


Eisner

by LycheeCannon



Series: Dimitri X Byleth OTP [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Babies, Childbirth, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Expectant Parents, F/M, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Most chapters are happy but there will be a couple sad ones, One Shot Collection, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Self-Sacrifice, Tenderness, dimileth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2020-07-31 12:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 20,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycheeCannon/pseuds/LycheeCannon
Summary: Chapter 1 (happy): Dimitri discovers he's going to be a fatherChapter 2 (happy): Byleth watches a tender moment between a father and son unfoldChapter 3 (happy): Potty training is hardChapter 4 (happy): Dimitri feels the baby kick for the first timeChapter 5 (happy): Naming the babyChapter 6 (happy): Dimitri holds the baby for the first timeChapter 7 (happy): Eisner loses his blanket and chaos ensuesChapter 8-13 (happy): Eisner accidentally gets sent back in time and meets the crew back in the academy daysChapter 14-17 (au Sad): Byleth dies in childbirth and Dimitri picks up the piecesChapter 18 (happy): Saint Cethlenn's Day is upon Faerghus and Eisner wants his presents. Right. Now!Chapter 19 (happy): No nonsense Momma Jeralt on the lone road with baby BylethRequests here: bbnoodles.tumblr.comTalk to me here: https://twitter.com/BbNoodles1





	1. Baby Making Potions Don't Exist (Happy)

**Author's Note:**

> Could y'all let me know your thoughts about whether this should be happy or sad?
> 
> I could see it going either way-- I'm more partial to writing happy and totally meant for this to be happy but as I started writing it just felt like it was trending towards being sad.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth has never of contraception, hilarity ensues. Dimitri finds out he's going to be a father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice fluffy happy chapter going over how Dimitri and Byleth found out they were expecting.

Byleth did not have any playmates growing up—naturally, no one else in the mercenary company had any children with them so while she saw the occasional townsfolk children running amok during supply runs and mission briefings, she’d never spoken to any of them.

In the fanciful books she read, children were more a plot point than anything else and when they were the main character, they rarely acted different from adults. They were background pieces behind the adults she spoke to, the chatter in the background when she was fetching supplies at the market, words on paper that never really had any significance.

In fact, she hadn’t even considered children something she would ever need to speak to until Dimitri asked her a lifetime ago if she’d help him train some young orphans at the monastery in swordplay. 

From then on, she was obsessed.

They were adorable with their wide, trusting eyes and bubbling laughter. Whenever Byleth had a bad mission and could not seem to wash the blood from under her nails thoroughly enough, she’d find one of the monastery children to take her mind off of things. They would play tag, run some errands for the adults, play with the clowders of cats all about, or practice fighting. 

Byleth wasn’t a loser—but she let the kids win every time.

She was the happy neighborhood face that would walk the kids home at the end of the day and make idle conversation with their parents—some of them younger than her even while she was a professor more than six years ago.

So, why was she so apprehensive now that the shoe was on the other foot? Children weren’t born in her mind, they simply existed—were delivered by a passing wyvern to a family who wanted it. 

She should have known something was amiss when she had missed her monthly cycle the first time and then the second then the third. Being a fighter running on constantly odd schedules, her cycles were never regular to begin with but ever since settling in as the Queen of Faerghus, she had been dreadfully busy and hadn’t thought to keep track.

It had started with the dizzy spells. One morning, she and Dimitri were taking their usual walk around the halls and she had stooped down to pick up a pin he’d dropped. One moment she was standing up straight and the next she was in her husband’s arms, his eyes desperately worried as he tried to rouse her. 

Then came the food. Byleth had always been a big eater—it’d been something that her father had teased her relentlessly about. But, starting from the middle of Verdant Rain Moon, she’d lost all interest in food. 

Dimitri was besides himself with worry. He’d never seen her get so weak—not even when she’d fallen ill from tainted spring water during one of their campaigns during the Great War. The first doctor she’d seen only days after taking her tumble told her that she was likely just exhausted and needed to take a respite from castle duties.

One autumn morning, as she sat up in her big bed reading over harvest schedules her handmaiden came in with a customary bowl of sweet rolls—the only food she had any appetite for. Dimitri had decreed that the cooks now had to have it on hand all the time. The younger woman set the bowl on the bedside table and offered a smile at the bedridden Queen.

“Good morning your Grace! How are you feeling?” 

Byleth smiled at the friendly girl, “I’m doing well, feeling a lot better than I did yesterday. If only they could figure out what’s gotten me in such a weak state, I could be out cracking heads together with his Highness.”

“Could it be the moon tea by any chance?” The handmaid asked— “When my mother was drinking it, she felt similarly ill and once she stopped the symptoms did as well!” 

Byleth looked at the girl strangely, she’d never heard of moon tea before. Was it some regional specialty? “I can’t say that I’ve ever tried it, so that can’t be it.” 

The handmaiden looked at her liege with a quizzical look. Every married woman drank moon tea at one point or another, even some that were not married to prevent children out of wedlock. While the king and queen were very private, it was no secret that they indulged in each other often. 

“Your Grace, if I may be so bold, what are you using for contraception if you aren’t drinking moon tea?” 

The young Queen’s response gave her all the information she needed to know: “What is contraception?”

Immediately the handmaiden had rushed in a flurry of skirts to the infirmary to call upon Healer Mercedes. Which lead to the current predicament that Byleth was in. 

\-----

“Oh my, Professor you’re twenty and two and married and active and have never heard of contraception?” Mercedes was generally very difficult to shock but she stood at Byleth’s bedside with one hand on her hip and the other holding her cheek in an upturned palm. “Didn’t his Highness at least talk to you about this?” 

“No! Why would we need to? I haven’t taken any potions to have children so why would I need to prevent it from happening?” Jeralt had been very clear when she was young about where babies came from. When a man and a woman loved each other very much, the woman could drink a potion made of the man’s tears that would make her become with child. It seemed like a difficult process to accidentally kick off—requiring something like moon tea to control it. Byleth shot a glance at her longtime friend and her handmaidens—all five people in the room all either holding back laughter or shaking their heads at her. “Out with it! What’s the big deal?”

Mercedes laid her hand on Byleth’s chest and murmured a short spell—a blooming glow materialized above her hand and consolidated into the shape of the Crest of Blaiddyd. 

“Professor, you’re expecting.” 

A dull thump snapped everyone out of their daze—behind Mercedes, Dimitri stood his hands out and a basket of sweet rolls next to his feet. 

“What?!”


	2. A Father's Devotion (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth wakes to find that Dimitri has gone to visit their son. She follows him and experiences a supremely tender moment for the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super cute, super fluff, so sweet I think my teeth are rotting. I kind of banged out this whole story in one afternoon so this is the last one for the day! <3 thanks for sticking around for the journey! Be sure to let me know what you think and what you'd like to see more of!

The soft night breeze from the open window felt like the soothing lap of spring water against her skin in the balmy heat of summer. Byleth stirred gently in her sleep, her blanket long kicked to the foot of the bed, her hair was pulled back and strew wildly against the feature pillow beneath her cheek. She patted the space next to her, searching for the familiar broad shoulder leading into the familiar muscular arm leading to the comforting hand she’d been holding for years. 

When she did not find it, one mint colored eye cracked open to confirm that he was indeed missing. The spot was still warm, he’d gotten up recently. However, it was hours until dawn, too early for even the King to be up. There really was only one place he could have gone and it made Byleth’s heart bloom with a familiar warmth.

She pulled a dressing gown over the short silk nightdress she wore and left the royal chambers, padding barefoot to her son’s room. The door was slightly ajar and the warm glow of a single flickering candle shone into the dark hallway. She peeked inside and the tenderness in her chest grew stronger.

Dimitri cut an imposing figure even out of his armor. He was taller than most of the men he worked with by a significant amount and despite not having the time to practice sparring as much as he used to, he was still lean and fit. His white pants were slung low on his hips and he wore a simple blue shirt. His eyepatch was back in the room so his scarred close eye was bared. His hair was tidier than it’d been when they were at war, it was still long but pulled back away from his face. As her husband reached up to tuck a lock of the baby’s hair behind its ear, she caught a glimpse of her mother’s ring gleaming on his elegant pinky finger. 

He was sitting in the chair she usually used to nurse the baby who was happily gurgling in his father’s arms, speaking so lowly that she had to crane her neck closer to the door to hear what was going on. 

“—ner you should never wake your mother in the middle of the night. I know you are hungry and she insists that she alone feeds you but she’s exhausted.” Dimitri tenderly held the baby, pitching forward and backwards in the chair to sooth him. “She does so much for you already…for all of us.” 

Per tradition, Eisner had a bevy of caretakers but Byleth had insisted that she alone feed him and also that regardless of the hour, she would be notified if he was being too fussy. Eisner was loved, oh so loved by parents that were so proud of him, of a kingdom that adored him. Byleth could trace every line on his tiny hands, follow every wisp in his eyes, count every eyelash on him for hours. She had not known what the deepest love in existence felt like until the first time that Dimitri placed him in her arms and wrapped his arms around her, crying. She would surmount any obstacle for him, kill anyone to keep him safe.

Even as a baby, he was the spitting image of his father but with the mint green of his mother’s eyes. He had soft locks of blond hair that fell messily into his eyes. He had the beginnings of a long regal nose and soft full lips. Everyone knew he’d be a handsome man someday. 

Blessed by the Goddess herself, people said of him. 

He was yet to be a year old, but at every milestone hence and every milestone yet to be, Byleth could not be prouder of him. At times, Dimitri was awkward around him, almost as if he did not know what to do. But, staring on the soul-stirring scene before her, it was hard to believe that he ever had trouble connecting to his son. 

“I had a nightmare even before your maid woke me. I dreamt that I was back five years agone, in the darkest time of my entire life. I walked Fodlan thinking that your mother had never returned to me, that you were just a fever dream that never existed. I never want to feel that way again. Eisner, I would give you the entire world if you asked it of me. If I had one day left alive, I would spend it nowhere than in in your mother’s sunroom, watching you play with her.” 

The baby made some incomprehensible sound back at him and smiled widely—Dimitri responded in turn, smiling and giving his index finger for his son to grab. 

“Someday I will tell you what I have done during those dark times. I will tell you how your mother saved my life and made me human again. I have almost lost her too many times in this life and if I have it my way, she will never leave my side again. I lost her once and then almost once more that terrifying night you were born. Never again. I love you her and I love you, son.”

He kissed the little boy on the forehead and placed their foreheads together for a brief moment before she saw his good eye flash towards the open door. She’d been found out.

“Darling, how long are you going to stand there? Eisner is hungry.” He teased, standing from his seat and opening the door further. Byleth rushed in and hugged the both of them.

This was home, and she never wanted to leave.


	3. It's a Potty in Here (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri is literally a piss poor father

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just something kinda light hearted and cute while I try to figure out how to approach the sad variant of this story. There's a teeny reference to something else I wrote in this one and the first person that points it out to me in the comments can request what the next chapter is about. ;)

Dimitri was the epitome of a king—he was poised and chivalrous, he was intelligent and handsome, he was well-spoken and fair but he was not the quintessential father. To say he took to it like a duck to water would be a negligent overstatement. In fact, he took to it about as well as Sylvain to monogamy—it simply wasn’t going to happen given that his old friend was already three bastards from three different mistresses deep in a marriage to one of their classmates—though maybe their respective lovers could fight it out amongst themselves given there were so many.

In the eleven months, twelve days, fifteen hours, and twenty something minutes since his son had been born, Dimitri was inconsolably worried about everything under the sun.

Dimitri panicked whenever Eisner cried and even more so when Eisner was quiet.

He was terrified whenever Eisner crawled around, what if the baby stepped on something sharp? What if something sharp _stepped_ on his baby?

He would cave the moment Eisner refused to eat at dinner, immediately ordering a maid to fetch his son’s favorite food: creamy chicken grape stew.

He refused to let Eisner sleep in the royal children’s quarters once he realized it was four hundred and fifty-one Dimitri paces and six hundred and eighty-eight wife paces away from the king’s bedroom door. Instead, converting his office into a baby room and his childhood room into a study thereby confusing about every noble that came to call.

None were so amused by his antics than his supportive, lovely wife. She was the one holding the bridge of her nose with two finders at his worse behavior and the one laughing to herself at some of his hilarious behavior.

On this particular day, Dimitri had plucked the little boy from his maid’s arms and shooed the older woman away. His wife was out on a diplomatic call to a neighboring territory so he was on his own. Eisner always got along far better with her than he did with him—Dimitri could’ve sworn that the little boy was scared of him at times.

“Listen, I know that we don’t always see eye to eye but—” He caught one of the baby’s flailing arms and gently nudged it aside, “—but we need to think about your behavior and refusal to use the chamber pot.” Eisner smiled toothily at him, a single bottom tooth making the blond boy very much resemble a bunny rabbit. 

“No no—NO!” Eisner squealed and laughed to himself, once again tugging at his father’s hair. “No no no no no no!” 

“You do not get an opinion on this! She would never admit it but I believe you even relieved yourself on your mother the other day and she was so upset, those were her—” 

“NO!” 

“Those were her favori—”

“NO!” The baby interrupted again, laughing and flailing his arms and legs around. 

“No.” Dimitri started harshly at the little boy, trying to be tough but melted when the little boy looked up at his father, eyes wide peering through long dark lashes.

“No?” He parroted, cocking his head to the left. For a moment, Dimitri thought he understood and mentally patted himself on the back, who said that he was a pushover parent? His chest felt so warm and content—maybe his son was coming around to having a stricter father, yeah! Maybe he could parent without his wife around.

Looking down at his boy he quickly realized—oh Goddess his had just soiled his father’s shirt, again.

He really wasn’t cut out for this.


	4. A Father's First Time (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri feels his baby kick for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something short and cute for you guys to enjoy :) I established that Dimitri and Byleth eat at the kitchens each morning in a separate one shot called "Raiding the Larder) that I wrote a bit ago. 
> 
> You guys were so supportive on the last chapter (the super sad one) I'm so so happy that you guys enjoyed it and it elicited the emotional reaction I was hoping to get. You guys are amazing! Remember that if you ever have any requests, feel free to leave em in the comments!

Mornings in Fhirdiad were peaceful. The sun had only risen so the halls were empty save for some servants going about readying the castle for the other inhabitants to wake. The king and queen had been on a morning walk to the larder when Byleth had almost doubled over, causing her husband to immediately grab her in worry. One moment they chatted amicably about the upcoming founding day festival and what dignitaries would be in attendance and the next, she yelped and placed both hands on her belly. She did not speak for a moment, only staring down at her bump and occasionally tensing up.

But, instead of crying out in pain she stared up at him in wonderment. 

“Dimitri, I… I felt the baby kick.” He had gaped like a fish in her direction and for a moment spoke nothing.

His sky-blue eyes were wide and his lips opened multiple times to speak but he had no words.

Instead, the King of the nation of Faerghus sank to his knees in the middle of the great hall, pulling his gloves off and bringing his wife’s clasped hands to his forehead. She felt wetness and knew instantly that he was shedding tears. 

A passing servant looked upon them knowingly from down the hall and Byleth smiled at her, shooing her away.

Byleth knelt as well, placing one hand on his cheek and the other on his hand, placing it gently onto her belly. 

“Dimitri, love, why are you crying? This is a joyous moment for us.” 

“I—I apologize, beloved. I—I,” he sniffed and swallowed, “I did not expect to feel this onslaught of emotions… I—” suddenly he paused and looked up at her with weepy eyes. 

Byleth smiled knowingly at his, holding his hand in place even when he moved to draw it away. 

“Do not pull away Dimitri, it is only saying hello to its father. Hello to you too, little baby.” Byleth smiled warmly, feeling the life inside of her toss and turn, kicking towards where Dimitri’s hand lay gently on her. Dimitri did not acknowledge her at all, too fascinated by the baby, tuning out everything else. 

He pressed his ear to the bump and listened intently. The floors in Fhirdiad were always warm because of the hot springs underneath the palace. On a chilly morning such as this, the warm stones were almost comforting so Byleth shifted his legs a little so she could get comfortable, letting Dimitri take as much time as he wanted with the baby. 

A tender moment passed before she heard him speak. His voice was thick from crying but also dripping with adoration. 

“Little one, I will never, ever let you go.” He pressed a soft kiss to her stomach and smile up at her with glistening eyes. “Thank you, wife, thank you for this wonderous gift.” 

Byleth’s heart fluttered and she leaned in to accept a loving kiss from her husband. “Thank you for letting me carry such a precious gift.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Requests? Leave em in the comments! :) I love hearing from you guys!


	5. Eisner Molinaro (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri and Byleth ponder baby names

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I likened Faerghus to Ireland and those two words do actually mean "demanding" in Irish.

“Dimitri, I feel like a whale.” Byleth lay with all limbs splayed haphazardly across their large bed. She was in her seventh month of pregnancy and that meant it’d been about three months since she’d last seen her own toes, two months since she’d last had a slice of bread, and one month since the last time she had been able to be intimate with her husband.

Her feet were swollen.

She could not squeeze into any of her clothes anymore.

None of the foods she liked sat well in her stomach.

Byleth hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest in over a week and since Dimitri was a light sleeper, he hadn’t gotten any sleep either. So, both had taken to working late into the night—some might say the kingdom had never run so smoothly but the dark circles under both of their eyes belied a lingering tiredness that no one could ignore. 

At first, the midwives were scandalized that Byleth and Dimitri still slept in the same bed at all— “It’s not proper for the king and queen to share chambers!” They’d exclaimed. Even nobles usually did not share bedchambers—most men preferred the freedom to carry on their business in private, without the strict eyes of their wives constantly watching.

Dimitri, never one for tradition, had waved them off and glared down anyone who ever brought up anything remotely similar ever again. He’d rather never sleep again than sleep away from his wife. So, he would work late into the nights with his wife sitting between his long legs, her slowly reading reports and pointing out anything of note to him and he would rest his chin on her tousled hair and write missive that were to be sent out the next day. At some point, she’d finally fall asleep, so he’d tuck her into bed and then get some sleep himself.

On this particularly balmy summer evening, Byleth’s back hurt too much to sit up so she had been confined to bed for the majority of the day. Dimitri sat ever loyally at her bedside, always ready to call for a plate for strawberries cooked in blue cheese or hold her hair while she retched into their chamber pot.

“I don’t understand, beloved, you always eat this—” He held up the plate gingerly, gesturing to the berries, “Why is it suddenly making you feel ill?”  
“Dimitri, distract me, I feel awful!” Byleth groaned in a way that sent shockwaves down his groin but he shook the feeling away, those shockwaves were part of what’d gotten them into this parental mess in the first place.

“Oh um… alright… What can I do?” Dimitri felt awful—his wife was carrying their child and he did not even know how to alleviate her suffering. “Do you want to sharpen my swords? It’s been a while since I’ve done that.” He walked over to their dresser to dig around for his whetstone but when he looked over his shoulder he caught her staring at him with a smug expression on her face.

“You know the only sword I’m interested in sharpening is not allowed near me anytime soon, right?” 

Dimitri sputtered for a moment, throwing the whetstone back into the drawer— “Well, what if I read to you? Or got you something else to eat?” She shook her head at those suggestions and stopped craning her neck to look up at him. He felt so defeated.

“We should look up the old Faerghusian word for ‘demanding’ and give it as a name to this little bugger.” Dimitri’s heart caught in his throat for a moment—they’d never discussed names for the child yet—it seemed like it was so far off but as his wife brought it up, he realized with a start that they were only two months away at most from meeting the boy or girl. His old Faeghusian was pretty rusty but he quickly pulled the correct terms out of his memory.

He cleared his throat— “well depending on whether you’re going for the verb or the adjective, it’d be _ éileamh_ or _lamháilte_.” Right as the words rolled off his tongue, he mulled the words over in his mind for a few moments more, shaking his head and trying to clear the thought that’d just came into his mind.

“Wow, those sound a lot like our fathers’ names, wouldn’t you agree?” Byleth say up, with a somber expression on her face. She had clearly been thinking the same thing he was. 

“I like Eisner for a boy.” Dimitri told her, “I don’t want to name the baby after my father, I feel that that man, though a good father, did the country a disservice by bringing in Cornelia and dooming Faeghus.” Byleth pondered it for a moment, and nodded. Dimitri looked at her for a moment and took a small hand in his own, running his fingers down her palm. 

“If it’s a boy, I’d also like to give a tribute to Dedue. Perhaps we could give him the middle name of Molinaro.” Byleth’s eyes watered a little as she looked upon him—the loss of his loyal retainer was a heavy blow to him all of those years ago and he’d largely avoided ever talking about the stoic man. Naming his own child in part after him was a lovely sentiment. She nodded fervently. 

“Eisner Molinaro…” She rolled the name around his mouth, testing it out. It felt foreign but _right_. “I like it!” Dimitri smiled kindly at her and brought her in for a sweet kiss, softly nipping at her lower lip as he pulled away slightly. Byleth tugged at his blond locks teasingly and pulled away for a moment, the blond little boy in her mind dissipating for a moment, becoming a little golden haired girl running towards a towering gentle giant.

“What about if it’s a girl?” Dimitri grinned toothily at her.

“Love, you heard the midwife, based on the way that I take you you’d only ever be having boys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Supppeeerrr cuuuttee, right? :)  
Let know what you think! I'm always happy to hear feedback/requests/hang out/anything!


	6. Hold the Baby (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dimitri and Byleth get used to having a baby so they establish a morning routine of watching Eisner.

It had begun with Byleth being unable to sleep after a difficult delivery—she’d been confined to her bed for days afterwards and would spend much of her time with her baby, who at the time was housed in the royal bedchambers while Dimitri supervised converting his private study adjacent to the bedroom into a nursery. 

She could stare at Eisner for hours. 

He had fuzzy blond hair in the same golden hue as his father and despite the initial shock of seeing a baby born with a full head of hair, it looked, _ felt _ so uniquely suited given Dimitri’s own wild hair that she would not let them cut it. His big mint colored eyes were framed by long dark lashes and a round, cute face. Despite being months away from having any teeth, he would immediately grin at anyone and everyone who saw him—reaching out a surprisingly strong hand to grip at their fingers when they got close. 

_He was perfect. _

For every noble that scoffed at their King for marrying a commoner, for every noble that had laughed at her lineage, or more specifically a lack thereof one, they’d been immediately silenced when it was discovered that she had delivered the first royal child with a major crest in over four generations.

Eisner did not have the Crest of Flames. When they discovered that he inherited a Major Crest of Blaiddyd from his father, his mother breathed a sign of relief. The Crest of Nemesis, hopefully, would die with her someday. Even though she understood the pointlessness and darkness of Crests and the inherent wrongness of Crest superiority, it was still something that mattered that most people. 

For the last forty-eight days, Byleth and Dimitri started their day the exact same way—at the crib of their first child. When he still lived in their room, Dimitri woke one morning to find that Byleth—despite not being able to walk just yet was perched on the side of the bed, gently cooing at the baby. She couldn’t reach his crib but despite his urge to bring the crib over to her, he could not bear to interrupt the moment of his wife and son making silly faces at each other from across the room. For the next hour until it was time to rise, he watched them bond and when he heard Eisner yawn delicately and settle back into sleep, he felt Byleth crawl back under the covers into her designated spot at the crook of his neck. He pulled her a little tighter, the fear he felt of losing her only the day before still gripped him so tightly he wondered if he could ever bear to watch her deliver another child.

The next morning, Byleth woke to a crib tucked right up against her side of the bed. Her first thought was of-- _ was that there when I went to sleep?_ Evidently, it was a solid walnut wood crib and weighed probably as much if not more than she did—there was only one person she could think of that could move it by themselves but he was still lightly snoring next to her.

She did not ponder too long for within a few moments of her waking, she felt tiny hands reaching through the bars of the crib—tugging at her hair. She reached a hand through the bars and let her baby play with her fingers.

The next day she’d woken later than she anticipated. Dimitri was sitting at the foot of her side of the bed with his hand in the crib. Since the birth he had yet to hold the baby. He was so unnaturally strong that he worried that he would hurt him.

Then, every subsequent morning they began to wake together. Byleth would reach over and take the baby out of the crib and set it at her breast so he could eat while Dimitri sat back and let his wife lean on him. She was still so weak after the delivery that she could scarce support herself upright for long before exhaustion. 

When the nursery was completed, they almost felt a sense of dread that they would no longer wake to the convenience of their son being barely an arm’s length away. How would Byleth get to the adjoining room while she couldn’t yet walk. So, they pushed the date they’d move Eisner a week later while Dimitri commissioned the best carpenter in Fhirdiad to build a rocking chair they could place in the room. Their ritual changed such that as the sun started to peak over the hills, Dimitri would wait for his wife to stir and ultimately wake. Then, he’d gingerly pick her up and set her in the chair so that she could hold Eisner while he sat and watched them. 

On the baby’s fiftieth day in the world, Byleth looked over at him knowingly as she held the baby over her shoulder. He was sitting in his usual chair near the door, leaning back as she watched him.

“Dimitri why won’t you hold him?” She knew the answer, she’d seem him splinter lances in his grip and it’s not like people could not see the visible grip marks on the throne in the main hall that had grooves matching each and every one of his fingers. He avoided holding the baby like the plague. The first time they brought Eisner to the balcony overlooking the courtyard to show the general populace their new prince, there had been whispers as to why the King was not holding his heir.

_I bet the baby does not have a Crest and his majesty is disappointed. _  
_He’s illegitimate, I heard. _  
_I hear the baby is sickly. _  
All untrue, but they all hurt Byleth the same. 

“Beloved, you know how I fear for him… I can’t control my strength sometimes and he’s so delicate.”

Byleth pursed her lips and held the baby to him with outstretched arms. Gesturing Dimitri to try.

He sighed through his nose nervously, and learned forward to take the child. The moment the weight settled in his arms his heart fluttered.

Eisner made a noise and shifted to look up at him, smiling widely and grabbing for a few locks of his father’s hair. 

Dimitri decided that for once, holding back his strength did not feel like conscious effort. No one would ever pry the precious bundle out of his arms, ever. Byleth smiled knowingly and settled back in her plush seat as she watched the two most important men in her life make silly faces at one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some cute fluff! As usual, please please let me know you like what you're seeing by leaving some comments with suggestions/what you like/what you don't, etc! Or let's just hang out in the comments :)
> 
> Edit: Some minor grammar stuff that I overlooked at like 2 AM


	7. The Missing Blanket (Happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eisner loses his favorite blanket and the castle goes into havoc until it is returned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I'm so happy to see that this story is the #2 most viewed Byleth/Dimitri story. Thanks so so much guys!!! I'm so happy that everyone is liking what they see, please continue to follow for more adventures. :)

The castle had been in an uproar for over a week.

It’d started it on a Monday in the summer of Wyvern Moon. Eisner was barely old enough to toddle around on unsteady legs. His father swung him around in circle on the castle lawn as they watched the Fraldarius carriage disappear over the horizon line. Felix had been in Fhirdiad to discuss repairs to the aqueduct that would partially encroach on his territory. 

He was in one of _those_ moods. In the morning, Dimitri had said his customary greetings to his wife as he left for a full day of meetings and left a kiss on his son’s brow, but as he turned to leave, the sharp _crack_ of splintering wood had whipped him around to see that the little boy had torn two of the spokes of his crib right off. Dimitri had barely had the time to rush over to catch the little boy tumbling out of gap in the wood.

Eisner had laughed adorably but Dimitri found nothing funny about it. 

Nan—the same woman who raised Dimitri has a baby—had only chuckled and informed the new father that every Blaiddyd father had the express honor of witnessing the uncanny strength the Crest afforded, sometimes in explosive ways. She regaled Byleth with a story about how Dimitri was responsible for the crater in the entrance hall near the west pillars because as a toddler, he’d thrown a fit and the next thing anyone knew, his stomping foot had gone right through the stone floor.

“Yes, quite normal. Perhaps you should take the boy with you on your duties today, I doubt anyone else would be safe handling him. You used to accidentally break peoples’ fingers all the time.” Dimitri propped a blond brow up at the old woman but she shrugged, holding up an index finger at the King— “You Blaiddyds never know your own strength.” 

And so, to the amusement of nobles coming to speak with him, Dimitri dutifully plopped his son on his lap during every meeting that day. For much of the morning, Eisner slept bundled with his soft little blanket against the thick furs in his father’s cloak and caused no trouble. 

Dimitri migrated from war room to the gardens to the training hall to his bedroom to the kitchen for a snack, with the little boy in tow on his shoulders. Eisner waved excitedly at every person that he and babbled adorably—he only knew three words— “hello”, “no”, and “mama”. Despite Dimitri’s best efforts to teach him the latter’s counterpart, the baby had taken to calling him “mama” as well much to his chagrin and the rest of the court’s amusement. 

By the end of the day, the baby was tuckered out and looked to be too tired to start any more escape acts—Byleth had gotten the crib fixed while Dimitri and the baby were out so the sleepy royal couple put him down for bed and readied themselves for sleep as well. Until—they heard Eisner’s soft whimpering. 

Byleth rushed over in a flurry of skirts, worried that something had happened. Eisner’s face was beat red from screaming and his fists and legs beat the air with a gusto. He wasn’t injured, he wasn’t warm, he wasn’t hungry, and he did not need to be changed. 

When the sun rose, Byleth was all out of ideas, as was Dimitri. They were taking turns trying to comfort him while the other took some precious moments to nap. Dimitri woke to the sharp cry of his wife falling onto the floor—he snapped up and rushed over to her. Eisner was still safely clasped to her shoulder but as he lifted the baby out of her arms, he saw the angry purple bruising of her broken right shoulder and the fist of the little boy who’d accidentally swung and hit her. 

From then on, Eisner was unstoppable. The Blaiddyd man required little sleep yet had boundless strength, endurance, and energy. Dimitri became the only person who could pick him up without breaking something and he had to sleep upright with the baby in his lap to prevent the baby from breaking bars off of cribs, knocking doors off of hinges, and generally wreaking havoc on the structural integrity of the castle. 

The last thing he needed was word that Felix was returning to the capital to discuss some administrivia fiasco going on with the new aqueduct as they’d discovered the foreman had been taking bribes from bandits. Felix had dispatched the entire bandit group already but now was returning to debrief with Dimitri about what had happened. He’d take any excuse to leave his own territory these days. 

The king signed deeply as he dropped the latest bent spoon onto the side table. “Little one, what is the issue? You’ve been nigh impossible to deal with for the past week. Don’t you know how much you’re worrying your mother? Even the healers can’t find anything wrong.” He stroked the baby’s fine brow but the little boy scowled and started bawling at the top of his lungs once more. 

As usual, Eisner came on Dimitri’s daily meetings and while nobles had at one point called the child angelic and adorable, they now knew him as an absolute menace who broke his fathers’ pens, broke chairs off of their legs and even toppled the entire war room table once by strategically banging his fists on a seam.

After his usual open question period, Dimitri laid his tired head on the table and tucked his son onto his lap, hoping to get a few moments of respite before Felix arrived. He heard voices before he ever even woke, the cold voice of his longtime friend conversing quietly with the boy. He kept his eyes closed, intent of getting the most out of his rest, Felix was not due for hours anyway.

“I hear you’re as strong as your old man—if you break any fingers on my hand, you’ll regret it.” 

“No!” Eisner griped. The near constant bawling and nonsensical screaming plaguing the last two weeks continued and Dimitri thought he heard the splintering of wood-- _again. _

“Whatever you say. I’m just here early cause your left your little scrap in my carriage before I left—how’d you get in there anyway.” Then—quiet and a moment more of quiet. 

Dimitri’s eyes shot open—surely nothing had happened to Eisner, he had yet to be quiet for days. But now, he saw the little boy bundled in his blanket—where had that even come from? He hadn’t seen it in over a week. With Felix patting his head gently—when the blue haired man saw that the King was awake, he immediately stopped but not before Eisner grabbed his hand as he meant to pull it away and screamed: “Papa!” Not at his actual father, who had been waiting on him hand and foot for over a week, but rather the stoic, unfriendly lord who’d accidentally stolen his blanket. 

_Insult to injury,_ Dimitri thought to himself. He put his head back down to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requests? Thoughts? Feedback? Happy to hear anything in the comments, let's hang out!
> 
> :) Comments are motivation for me!


	8. Warp Gone Wrong (Happy) [1/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1/2! 
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time so this one's gonna be a two-parter!

The science of how warp magic worked was dubious at best—most would describe the gentle tugging of space pulling them from their anchor to the world and then in the brief blackness, it would be like one woke up in their destination with no recollection of what happened in between.

On this particular day, Lysithea was visiting with her husband and surprisingly, was interested in studying Eisner as she wanted to know how much of Byleth’s divine blessings had passed onto the child. However, as the day drew to a close and her patience wore thin, she decided that she should return the grabby kid to his parents. With a tome under one arm and a firm grasp on his hand, Lysithea quickly realized that the toddler walked much too slow for her taste and considering where the royal quarters were, her only option would be to pick him up for quick transport…_unless…_

They said not to use warp magic on the frail or elderly but it never said anything about a lower age limit—so few mages ever learned warp magic that it was a seldom asked question whether children could be warped. So, she tugged him to a stop and drew the appropriate circle around him. Finding a scrap of parchment in her robes to scribbled the message:

_See you at dinner. Eisner walks too slow for my taste. _ She tucked the message into his little breast pocket and made sure he was holding onto the small knapsack Byleth had sent him off with—nothing that’d interfere with warp, just a book, his blanket, and a small wrapped candy for when he finished his book.

Lysithea firmly pictured a familiar fifth story sunroom that Byleth told her to meet her at and started the incantation. The boy even was sweet enough to wave frantically back at her in excitement as the greyish warp tendrils grasped him to lift him off his feet. Eisner gave an excited squall silence only by the gate closing behind him. 

\-----

“There are better places to sleep than on the ground, you know.” Claude gently shook the little boy who’d dropped into the middle of his and Dimitri’s training session. They’d been locked in a staff duel with a little boy had dropped through the top of the thatched training hall roof. Surprisingly the floor had gotten the brunt of the damage—the toddler did not seem injured in the least.

The boy stirred briefly and gazed up at him with a frighteningly familiar stare. Behind him, Dimitri stooped over to take a look and pulled out the parchment tucked into the boy’s pocket-- _See you at dinner. Eisner walks too slow for my taste. _?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dimitri asked Claude, pushing the scrap into the other man’s hand. He scanned it over with his green gaze and similarly shrugged. 

“Are you Eisner, young man?” Dimitri asked the toddler—by the looks of him he probably did not know how to speak yet but the boy’s minty green gaze perked up.

“I don’t know, who’s Eisner, is there even anyone here by that name?” The two lords riffled through their memories and came up empty for anyone with that name. “Maybe he’s one of the monastery orphans? We should drop him off there.” His eyes swept to the spilled sack and _Fodlan Wilderness by Ignatz of Leicester_ sat innocently on the dusty floor.

Much to Dimitri’s chagrin, Claude unwrapped the candy spilling out and popped one into his mouth, flipping through the book, whistling at the beautiful illustrations. “I wish our Ignatz knew how to draw like this, these are killer.” 

Dimitri scooped the boy up into his arms and gestured for Claude to pack up the spilled bag so they could go figure out what to do with the child—there weren’t many at Garreg Mach, most of them lived in low town and there was no way a child this young had made the trek himself.

Eisner sniffed softly and tugged at Dimitri’s lapels— “Mama…” he whined softly. Dimitri’s gaze softened at the little boy looking for his mother and patted the child on its head comfortingly.

“It’s going to be night soon, let’s take the boy to the dining hall for something to eat and we can ask around if anyone knows him.” 

Dinner that day was baked Gautier Gratin and Dimitri watched fondly as the little boy dug in with gusto—many other students from his own house and others had gathered around the little guest. They’d postulated that the child must be noble based on its fine clothes and the fancy parchment. When they’d each passed around the book at the table, Ignatz had sputtered loudly but otherwise, choking on his drink, had no ideas who his name sharing compatriot was. 

“You know, he looks a lot like you.” Annette mused, running a finger down Eisner’s cheek— “That eye color is really somethin’ though isn’t it?” As of prompted, the toddler looked at her and smiled widely. Annette squealed and ruffled the kid’s hair. “How sweet!”

Throughout dinner, even some of the older inhabitants of the monastery had come by to study the mysterious little boy—Manuela had cooed and fawned, Alois had regaled the child with puns, Seteth had appeared stoic but still offered to help located the missing mother any way he could. Jeralt and Hanneman had pulled up seats next to the students and the child took an instant shine to the former mercenary—he climbed into his lap and clapped his hands as the man swung him around. 

“What a solid kid—I remember when Byleth was still fun to throw around like this.” Jeralt looked fondly at the little boy.

“Mama?” The boy chimed, adorably tilting his head to one side at the mention of Jeralt’s daughter.

“Haha yes, yes. Byleth used to do the same thing, call me mama but never papa.” He looked up at the bunch of interested students— “What’d you say his name was?” Jeralt bounced the little blond boy in his lap and chuckled as he squeaked and giggled. 

“Well the piece of paper we found with him said his name is Eisner.” Jeralt stopped a moment and flipped his eyes over at Dimitri. 

“Eisner, eh?” He looked at the boy again, “I wonder who your mama could be?” He stroked the boy’s brow with one huge hand, feeling his heart catch in his throat for a moment. The boy reached up to grip his hands and smiled toothily up at him. Jeralt smiled warmly back at him, a still calm settling in his chest—he offered two index fingers for the toddler to grip. 

“Strong boy, this one is.”

The boy climbed back onto the long table towards Dimitri and plopped onto the older boy’s lap. “Mama.” 

“Yes, yes. I suppose you can call me that until we find your real mother. Would you like some of my dinner?” Dimitri held out a soup spoon to Eisner, the little boy latched on but when the lord went to remove it, he felt the toddler clamp down hard on the utensil and refuse to let go. Dimitri gave an insisting tug and gaped as he saw that the spoon had been crushed flat in the shape of the roof of the toddler’s mouth. The entire table fell silent a moment until—

“Didn’t you use to do that?” At some point Felix had joined them, propping two feet up on the table and holding his dinner in his lap. “I remember you even used to break the spokes off of forks. 

“Now that ya mention it, he does look a lot like you—you got any bastards to admit to us?” Sylvain chirped in, lazily throw a hand up. A couple of others nodded and gazed at the embarrassed prince with a judgmental look.

Dimitri turned beat red and vehemently denied the notion. “I, I would never—I… I have not even—I would not even think to…” 

“To what?” Byleth sauntered into the dining hall with a parcel tucked under one arm and a platter of sweet rolls in the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are fuel to your hungry hungry author! Let me know what you think? Let's discuss and chat about what you wanna see next! Also- ya know I had to put that throwback to Awakening in the middle-- kudos to anyone that spotted it :)


	9. Warp Gone Wrong (Happy) [2/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2/4! 
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time.
> 
> The response on the last chapter was absolutely phenomenal! Thanks so much for taking the time to read!!

Byleth took to a child clambering for her attention about as well as a Sylvain would take to monogamy. As she crossed the threshold into the dining hall with her haul from the markets, intent of settling in with a good book for the night, a little blonde hopped down from his perch on Dimitri’s lap and straight towards the young lady. 

Until suddenly, a loose stone on the floor tripped him and he fell face first on the ground. In an instant, Jeralt perked up and scooped the little boy up, trying to shush him as he bawled and whined. Dimitri pinched Eisner’s nose with a monogrammed handkerchief to stem the bleeding while another hand quickly picked up the child’s little hands to observe the scrapes on his palms.

“Mama!” He shrieked, waving his arms wildly, and struggling so hard that Jeralt had to set him back on the ground. Dimitri held on despite a few well places blows that actually hurt quite a bit. He grit his teeth slightly and tightened his grip on Eisner’s tiny shoulders. The little boy flailed wildly, even grabbing at the small notebook in the blond lord’s pocket and throwing it clear across the room, scattering paper everywhere. Mercedes stood nearby, trying to find an opening to cast a healing spell but the toddler was moving too much and not letting her get close enough. 

“What’s going on here?” Byleth asked, setting down her basket and package, riffling through her pockets for her waterskin to rinse the dirty scrapes. “Whose child is this?” 

Dimitri shot his compatriots a warning glance and Sylvain responded by holding his hands up in resignation—telling Byleth, “I don’t know, Dimitri and Claude just found him in the training field but he looks noble so we didn’t want to leave him to his own devices for too long.”

Eisner gave a particularly hard shove that pushed Dimitri off balance, the young noble landed on his behind in shock, his grip on the kid loosening just enough where he could slip out and take off towards Byleth once more. 

“Want Mama! Want Mama!” He latched onto one of her legs and threw both arms around it—squeezing hard. Byleth looked over at her coworkers and students, unsure as to what to do. Jeralt shrugged and pantomimed picking the kid up the rest of the group just shrugged. 

Byleth stooped over and thought about how best to pick him up, grabbing him first by the scruff by stopping at the horrified look her friends were giving her and then trying to pick him up by the arms which another concerned look from Seteth put her off of. Finally, she scooped the boy up the same way she usually picked up cute cats in the monastery and while it did not feel like a good way to hold him, he at least stopped crying, he sniffed a few times and looked back up at her, minty eyes round and watery. 

“Um…there, there…--What’s his name again?” Byleth awkwardly tried to comfort the kid, her mind was racing and her palms felt sweaty on the soft cotton of his jerkin. 

“Eisner—or so we think.” Claude called over, still sitting at the table where many people who’d originally stood up were starting to return to— “It was on a scrap in his pocket.” He popped another candy from the boy’s satchel into his mouth. Byleth raised a brow at the tanned man—_what a small world. _

Byleth perked up at the familiar light creamy orange bits in Claude’s hand— “I didn’t know you liked penydes as well, I just picked up a big batch from the eastern merchant bringing them in from Almyra, you should’ve said something!” She tilted her head in the direction of the discarded parcel and basket on the ground. Carefully, she kept a hand under Eisner’s bottom and used the other to place her candies into the basket. Then she stood slowly and maneuvered into an empty seat next to Dimitri’s dinner at the end of the table. He scooted slightly but their knees touched—sending a blush to the young noble’s face. The toddler tugged her hair and put it in his mouth, giving her blue hair a slight chew that made Byleth cringe. Once he tired of picking at her armor and chewing on the tassels on her necklace, he settled in at her shoulder and dozed off, a light rumbling coming from his tiny chest.

Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief.

However, Byleth was now stuck holding the little boy. Every time she shifted to set him down on the folded coat Dimitri bundled up on the table or to hand him to Jeralt or Annette who was more than happy to hold him, he would start to stir and grumble, immediately redelegating taking care of him to the one person who could keep him quiet.

“You’re quite good with children, Professor—you calmed him down quickly, I’m impressed.” Dimitri told Byleth, gesturing gently at the sleeping child. 

“I’ve actually never held a kid before, I think he just likes me, we share a name after all.” Dimitri raised an elegant brow at her. As far as he knew, she did not have a middle name.

Byleth smiled at his confused and chuckled gently, stroking a hand down the kid’s back. “You see, the E at the end of my name in official documents stands for Eisner, my last name is Eisner. Father filled out our official papers wrong so it’s just always been abbreviated.” The blond lord _ahhhh’d_ in understanding and the table fell once more into an easy chatter. 

“So, what do we do now?” Claude asked, resting his jaw on an upturned palm with a lazy expression on his face— “he’d probably injure the nuns if he woke up and found that his mother hen wasn’t there.” Byleth gave him a pointed look and then gave a reluctant sigh.

“I suppose he could stay with me? Father, where did I used to sleep while we were on the road?” Jeralt thought about it for a moment and then shrugged, telling her that usually he just set her on his fur cloak and wrapped her up so she could sleep next to him until she was old enough to have her own bedroll. Several nobles at the table thought back to the elaborate cribs and nurseries and cringed, even Ashe who was lowborn recalled each of his little siblings sleeping in a modest wooden cradle. 

Once dinner finished, Byleth stood to return to her room for some well needed rest and relaxation, though she was not sure where the little kid would fit into that equation. As folks trickled out and back to their rooms, she stood to return to her own, uncomfortably shifting the boy around to try and find a hand open to carry both her basket and his knapsack. Dimitri eventually picked it up for her and offered to carry them, to which she thanked him with a smile that made him flush the color of a nice summer peach. He got up from the bench and dusted off his knees—they were dusty from fishing out all the papers that Eisner had torn and spilled under the table when the notebook was chucked clear across the hall. 

Jeralt walked by the two young adults and briefly patted Byleth on the head, wishing her a good night and bade her to come find him if she needed anything. He gave Dimitri a squeeze on the shoulder that the prince found a little too tight and gave him a hard look that he did not understand.

Jeralt watched pensively at the two young adults as Dimitri fell into step with Byleth and the two spoke about his upcoming paladin exams while the small child dozing on her shoulder reached out a small fist to grip at Dimitri’s sash, connecting the two people through the little tyke between them and a feeling he couldn’t describe settled in his belly.

“Are you crying, Jeralt?” Seteth asked from behind him. The rugged man sniffed and wiped at his swimming vision with the back of a gloved hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, if anyone can catch which one of my other chapters or stories may have been spawned by what the kid did in this chapter, I’ll bump your request to the top of the queue 😉 
> 
> Penydes are a type of actual medieval candy—I tried some at a renaissance fair once, it was super tasty. 😉
> 
> Also for all of my Blue Lion peeps, you MUST check out this video, it's amazing and totally fanmade! https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm35631960
> 
> I'm thinking the next installment I'm writing might be in the Eisner universe and centered around this fanart I saw: https://i.redd.it/j3w2bq6sxxf31.jpg or maybe Eisner won't be in it at all. Thoughts?  
Please please write to me below and let me know what you're thinking! I love to chat in the with folks and try to respond to everyone so I can get your insights and feedback! The best part of writing is getting to see peoples' reactions in the comments! :) :) :) 
> 
> Stay tuned for the next installment coming soon!


	10. Warp Gone Wrong (Happy) [3/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3/4!
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time.
> 
> This one is all about the Dimitri and Jeralt angle of this whole ordeal and I was pretty liberal about giving Jeralt a backstory so I hope it's to your guys' enjoyment!
> 
> Also! I wanted to respond to some messages I've been getting regarding some readers concerned that there may be some liberal borrowing of ideas from this story (+some of my one shots) in other works across AO3/FF/Tumblr and I wanted to say thank you so so much for looking out for me! I don't own the ideas of Dimileth having a baby or some of the aspects that I've given Byleth's personality but I did see that some of the works that people were messaging to me went well past that to the point where big ideas and story points were extremely similar, I have some mixed feelings about it but honestly don't feel that there's any real cause for concern! I'm flattered :) I'd appreciate it if they could point back to this story (or any of my other ones) if they did borrow significant ideas but totally understand that that might be weird. Please don't send any negativity their way, they're just tryna contribute to this super sweet pairing!

Dimitri made the usual journey to the training grounds but instead of Felix and Ingrid waiting for him in the ring, they both sat at the edge of the ring, looking worse of wear. Ingrid’s normally tidy hair was falling out of its plait and Felix was dusty and his clothes were scuffed. Jeralt stood in the middle, seemingly waiting for him with sword in hand.

“Hey kid, your opponent today is me. These two aren’t working you hard enough.” Dimitri should’ve known those words would seal his fate from the start but unfortunately shrugged and stepped into the ring anyway with a training sword from a nearby rack.

Immediately, Jeralt whipped around, the clattering force of the two flimsy swords hitting one another shattered Dimitri’s on impact. Jeralt calmly walked over to the rack and picked out two iron swords, tossing one to the prince. “Suit up kid, we need to have a chat.”

Two hours later, Dimitri left the ring sorer than he’d ever felt in a long time. Jeralt had been merciless, slamming him into the ground over and over again and while most would be honored to train with a famed paladin, Dimitri didn’t exactly feel lucky in the moment, in fact he couldn't feel his fingers, toes, or behind at all. He sat at the edge of the ring with a huff and took the water skin that the older man handed him. 

“You really don’t go easy, do you?” He asked, wincing as he nursed his bruised forearm. Jeralt sat down next to him and shrugged, grabbing the water skin to take a swig for himself.

“No, not really. Byleth keeps me on my toes.” Dimitri peered over at the sandy haired man and thought for a moment, he’d never really been alone with Jeralt before, usually the clambering train of other people wanting to train with him limited the amount of one on one time that the former mercenary had. But now, without Leonie banging down the training room door or Lorenz clambering for a chance to hone his lance work, it was oddly peaceful. “You know, she’s all I have. I could never forgive myself if anything happened to her.” Jeralt looked pensive for a while, furrowing his brows. 

“With all due respect, Jeralt, the companionship of all her friends here is good for her.” Dimitri took another sip and handed the skin back to the older man but he held out a hand and reached into his breast pocket instead, taking a sip out of a small flask. He paused for a moment then handed it to Dimitri. Normally, the young prince did not drink but given the honor of Jeralt—a shrewd man when it came to alcohol—offering some to him, he took a draught himself and chased it with some more water.

“Do you mean her friends or do you mean yourself?” Dimitri froze and slowly swiveled his head around again to face Jeralt. The older man wasn’t joking, his mouth was set in a hard line and his eyes were unreadable. “I see the way you look at her.” 

Dimitri was normally a poised man but he sputtered and blushed profusely. Firstly, people were wondering if he had bastards running around and next, he knew the comeliest lady he’d ever met’s father was on to his not-so-secret affection. He cleared his throat awkwardly and told the former mercenary, “I care deeply for her, she is a great professor and we are lucky to have her.” 

Jeralt smiled into his next sip and chuckled, “I used to think the same way about her mother. I used to think I couldn’t love Byleth because of what happened to her mother. But I love her, I love her so much it scares me.” Dimitri had never heard Jeralt speak about Byleth’s mother—in fact, Byleth told him that she’d never managed to get anything about her out of her father before. 

“We met in the library when I was still a knight. I was so stupid; I was only there to retrieve a book and she scolded me for tracking mud inside. I relentless pursued her after that, she just had this grace that no other girl close to my age had.” Jeralt leaned back on his arms behind him, looking up towards the ceiling. “You see, she was a nun specifically studying the teachings of Saint Macuil. I was this lost bastard born in a whorehouse wandering around picking fights until Rhea took me into the Order. Then, all of a sudden, I had a nice place to sleep, a Crest that made me special, and a girl I was crazy about. We weren’t married, no one could know how I felt about her but I would trade almost anything to see her smile again. When she fell pregnant, we thought we’d leave the church and settle down somewhere, that is, if Rhea didn’t expel her first for having a child out of wedlock. They wouldn’t even let me in the delivery room when the time came. It was too early—only 7 months and we knew that there was no way that the baby could survive.” 

He was silent for a moment more and continued, “I won’t be around forever, promise me you’ll take good care of her.” 

Dimitri looked at the older, tired looking man and slowly nodded, not knowing how to respond to the emotional story that he was now privileged to know. “I promise.”

They sat in silence for a tick longer, passing the flask between each other until it was almost empty. At the sound of the training hall door creaked open and the pattering of small feet raced inside. Eisner run in and lunged at Jeralt’s legs. The man stood and took the small boy into his arms, ruffling his hair. He handed the rest of the amber liquid to Dimitri with a soft murmur of— “keep it”—and walked over to his daughter, pleasantly poking fun at her pink headband.

The three fell into a meandering step to the dining hall for the noon meal. A large group was already gathered at one of the long tables, Dorothea was only interrupted from her jaunty tune about harvest season for a moment to smile at the three as they sat down with their meals. Hanneman sat at the other end of the table and waved frantically at the young prince, when Dimitri acknowledged him with a look, he called across the entire table seating most of their mutual acquaintances.

“Dimitri have you ever taken a mistress?” The young man spat out a mouthful of tea onto the bench next to him. 

“WHAT?!” He looked incredulously at the old man. 

“Well you see, most princes sow their wild oats at some point but when it comes to crested princes, it’s often common for them to—” 

“I know what most princes do. I’m not Claude, I don’t go about perusing the women interested in courting royalty. What’s this about?” Hanneman pursed his lips for a second, not quite believing him. Claude stood and pounded a fist on the table good naturedly— “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Earlier that morning, Byleth took Eisner with her to the library while she read up on the different species of fish in Fodlan. The little boy had been interested at first but quickly lost interested and started to crawl and toddle about the room, pawing at shelves low to the floor. Eventually, Hanneman had come over from his quarters for a bit of light reading himself. But, with enough coaxing and candy from his pockets, he’d convinced the little boy to go back to his quarters for something that he’d been wondering since the kid had quite literally dropped in a couple of days ago. 

The boy looked remarkably like the young Blaiddyd prince and historically, only men inherited the crest of Blaiddyd and only one crested boy was born per crested father. So, imagine the surprise of the toddler crawling over to the crest examination device and a major crest of Blaiddyd illuminating the room in a shower of light. Lambert was the only child with a crest so the only living Blaiddyd who could produce a child was somewhere in the dormitories rising for the day. The Blaiddyd family was famously the only crested lineage that lay unbroken from father to son since the days of Seiros.

When he looked up, Byleth and Jeralt stood at the doorway, book in hand, clearly having noticed the little boy’s absence. “Oh…oh my.” She’d said, dropped the book when she too saw the glowing display hovering above Eisner.

“Little Eisner here has a Major Crest of Blaiddyd, something I believe hasn’t surfaced in the Blaiddyd family in over six generations. To produce a major crest, the father needs to have at least a minor crest!”

Dimitri felt twenty pairs of eyes land on him and then looked at the little blond boy happily throwing rice at him. 

“Papa!” What a time for the boy to not call him ‘mama’ for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Comments and thoughts are this authors' fuel to keep writing!!


	11. Warp Gone Wrong (Happy) [4/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 4/5! This series was extended by one because this chapter was definitely of a different tone than the last one (which I already have written so expect it soon!) so I wanted to separate them.
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.
> 
> A big big big big thank you to all of my readers-- this story is currently the most read story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time.
> 
> This one is all about the Dimitri and Jeralt angle of this whole ordeal and I was pretty liberal about giving Jeralt a backstory so I hope it's to your guys' enjoyment!
> 
> Also! I wanted to respond to some messages I've been getting regarding some readers concerned that there may be some liberal borrowing of ideas from this story (+some of my one shots) in other works across AO3/FF/Tumblr and I wanted to say thank you so so much for looking out for me! I don't own the ideas of Dimileth having a baby or some of the aspects that I've given Byleth's personality but I did see that some of the works that people were messaging to me went well past that to the point where big ideas and story points were extremely similar, I have some mixed feelings about it but honestly don't feel that there's any real cause for concern! I'm flattered :) I'd appreciate it if they could point back to this story (or any of my other ones) if they did borrow significant ideas but totally understand that that might be weird. Please don't send any negativity their way, they're just tryna contribute to this super sweet pairing!

“Doesn’t have to be a mistress, a woman of the night will do in a pinch sometimes…” Claude trailed off suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.

“That’s preposterous!” Dimitri shouted, his fisting coming to slam on the table. Despite his normally temperate attitude, most of the students knew well enough about his inability to manage his own strength so while everyone scooted a couple of feet back, no one was surprised to see the bifurcated halves of the table come up to slam into each other. He had the mindfulness to look sheepish for a moment before returning to glare to Claude. 

Eisner squealed and clapped his hands. “More! More!” 

“I’ve never ever _ever_ even had—” 

“Whoa whoa! You’re a virgin? Dimitri! You gotta get out more!” Claude teased, next to him Sylvain and Lorenz were losing their minds with laughter. 

Byleth furrowed her brows a bit, something about the discussion in front of her not sitting well with her for reasons she did not understand. So what if Dimitri had some tryst that produced a bastard—plenty of lords had bastards, having one at 17 was not unheard of? 

“No, you dastard! I’ve been very clear, I do not and have not fooled around with women you philanderer!” 

“Ah! So, you philander with men then, good to know Dimitri!” Claude called back mockingly. 

A tick passed before Dimitri practically launched himself over the table at Claude, who dodged the lunge and continued to toss teasing comments at the blue lord while backing up.

Dimitri made to lunge at the Alliance leader again but midway through the air, Eisner gave a sharp tug on his cape sent him crashing into the broken table. The other onlooked reactions varied from amused to downright enthused, some joining in teasing Dimitri.

“I can vouch that his Majesty would never enter any dalliances with woman without my knowledge.” Dedue join in, standing to support his liege. Dimitri turned around with a scandalous expression—

“How would you know that Dedue, you don’t watch me in—” and the rowdiness continued.

Felix and Ingrid pulled up a chair next to Byleth to watch the antics. Annette, who was sitting beside her previously reached over to scoop the toddler into her arms, cooing at him and gently holding his hands to make him dance around. 

“He really does look like he could be Dimitri’s bastard…” Ingrid started, craning her neck to get a good look at the little boy’s face. 

“Not a chance. This little brat looks nothing like that boar.” Felix huffed, crossed his arms and leaning back in his seat. 

Byleth took a good look at the boy—she’d had it at the back of her mind for days, but the child had the same skin tone as Dimitri, as well as the same hair from the color to the texture. He even had the same lopsided left dimple that the lord had—though it was much easier to see it on the boy since he smiled more. She only knew that Dimitri had one because she’d once seen him unable to hold in his laughter for one of Alois’ terrible jokes. The only mystery was the kid’s green eyes—she hadn’t ever seen an eye color like that—he certainly hadn’t gotten it from Dimitri as the young prince had ice blue eyes. 

“Who has green eyes in his shade?” Byleth wondered aloud, more to herself than anything. When she’d first seen them, they reminded her of Rhea and Flayn’s eyes but they were definitely not contenders to be the mother.

“Green? Don’t you mean more of a periwinkle?” Annette asked, raising an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t really call his eye color green; blue is more common anyway in Faergus.” She turned the boy and Byleth drew in a breath sharply. _Hadn’t his eyes been green? _ She’d even had a long conversation with Lysithea about whether there were any noble families with eyes that were that minty green color that he touted. Now, they were totally different. In the three days he’d been at Garreg Mach, no one had stepped forward to collect him, which was starting to worry her. She naturally was not a person who liked the company of children but she felt instinctively drawn to Eisner.

Suddenly, Lysithea walked up to her and sat down on an open chair across from Byleth, tilting her head at Felix, Ingrid, and Annette, then grabbing the baby—pulling up one of his sleeves.

To everyone’s shock, it was slightly transparent. Byleth gasped, immediately bringing a hand under his arm and verifying that she could indeed see right through him. 

“As I suspected.” Lysithea murmured to herself, then, she turned to look at Byleth. “Professor, I believe that this child is from the future.”

Byleth felt like her head exploded. _From the future? _

Lysithea extracted the picture book that the boy had come with from her bag and opened it to the title page _Fodlan Wilderness by Ignatz of Leicester_ it read/ Under it, in a different handwriting were the words: _For the birth of the little prince. May you live forever in the peace that your parents—a king and his teacher—built for you. _

“I thought nothing of it at first since Ignatz was so keen to keep the book from himself but I tracked him down because I wanted to read it. The works in here are all dated after 1186.

Byleth’s jaw dropped.

“Earlier today, I spoke with Jeralt and we listed some remarkable similarities between you and this baby—also if you notice, his eye color has been closer and closer to yours since he got here. Historically, that shade of green is reserved for people blessed by the Goddess. The fact that it’s fading is a good indicator that he can’t stay in this time for very long anymore.” Lysithea ran her eyes over the four people intently listening to her speak and then continued. “I don’t know how to break this to you but I think you’re his mother, this baby is a time traveler, and if he stays any longer in the wrong time, he’s in danger.” 

“OUR PROFESSOR HAD A BABY WITH DIMITRI?” Annette gasped, standing so suddenly that her chair toppled behind her. The room immediately quieted and Byleth felt twenty pairs of eyes on her at once.

"He's a time traveler?" Hanneman called out, clearly interested in the science behind how such a situation came about. 

From across the room, Dimitri’s eyes met with her own and in an instant, the commotion cleared and the room was only for them. She felt confused, unable to process anything that she’d just heard. She could feel the little hand tugging at her sleeve, asking to be in her lap but she did not know how to respond. 

“Cheer to that, you guys finally figured it out.” Jeralt called, raising his glass for a toast—no one joined him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big big big big thank you to all of my readers-- this story is currently the most read story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3 
> 
> Let me know what you think! Comments and thoughts are this authors' fuel to keep writing!!


	12. Warp Gone Wrong (Bittersweet) [5/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 5/6! This series was extended by one more (again) because this chapter was definitely of a different tone than the last one (which I already have written so expect it soon!) so I wanted to separate them. Also, I had a strike of inspiration and felt that this was still a different tone than the actual last chapter. Coming soon!
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.
> 
> A big big big big thank you to all of my readers-- this story is currently the most read story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also made a tumblr so please pop on over there to leave suggestions! I might also post some chapters a smudge earlier to gauge reactions and get ideas from folks! :) Tumblr URL: bbnoodles.tumblr.com
> 
> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time.
> 
> This one is all about the Dimitri and Jeralt angle of this whole ordeal and I was pretty liberal about giving Jeralt a backstory so I hope it's to your guys' enjoyment!
> 
> Also! I wanted to respond to some messages I've been getting regarding some readers concerned that there may be some liberal borrowing of ideas from this story (+some of my one shots) in other works across AO3/FF/Tumblr and I wanted to say thank you so so much for looking out for me! I don't own the ideas of Dimileth having a baby or some of the aspects that I've given Byleth's personality but I did see that some of the works that people were messaging to me went well past that to the point where big ideas and story points were extremely similar, I have some mixed feelings about it but honestly don't feel that there's any real cause for concern! I'm flattered :) I'd appreciate it if they could point back to this story (or any of my other ones) if they did borrow significant ideas but totally understand that that might be weird. Please don't send any negativity their way, they're just tryna contribute to this super sweet pairing!

Byleth looked over at Dimitri, who stood a few paces away. After the ruckus of explaining the debacle that they were in, he had caught her on her way back to her room. She felt like her head was about to explode and she imagined that he felt similarly. 

“I admit we have much to discuss, Professor—erm, I mean, Byleth.” Dimitri came to stand beside her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Eisner was curled up against his shoulder, supported by a single hand under his bottom.

Byleth smiled at him with pink cheeks and tugged him towards a nearby bench, patting the spot next to her to coax him into sitting down. “I hope this doesn’t make our dynamic strange, Dimitri.” She fiddled with her thumbs for a moment, suddenly nervous. It wasn’t like she’d had this baby with her student, some future version of herself had. But it felt so tangible, so strange. 

Byleth had scarcely ever been kissed let along considered the ramifications of having children. She’d never stayed anywhere long enough and despite the fact that she largely listened to her father, if she ever snuck out, whoever was unlucky enough to have a tryst with her would be on the receiving end of Jeralt’s lance. Dimitri was—well he was a _catch_. The type of man village girls dreamed about yet that’s where the buck stopped—they’d probably never even lay eyes on a royal in person let alone have any further aspirations for his affections. 

Dimitri was kind, gentle, a bit distant at times, but he was a good person. He spent his spare time training orphans in the tiltyard and never questioned dropping what he was doing to help others. In short, he’d make an excellent father. But, her, in all of her rough and tumble upbringings and inability to open up along with her fledgling skills in communicating with others emotively, she wasn’t a mother. In fact, she was the furthest thing from it.

She pursed her lips and furrowed her brows—what on Earth could happen in the future to warrant her and Dimitri becoming an item? Was Eisner a bastard? The note that Lysithea found in the book would suggest that she had married Dimitri—become queen even. But what darkness would they be staving off? There had not been a single war in a long time. The future was marked with milestone after milestone of peace. In five short years, they’d all be reuniting at the monastery for celebrations for the millennium. 

Truthfully, she didn’t even think she’d attend. She wasn’t like these people, so open and free spirited. So willing to trust and open to forging long term connections. Her father was the only constant in her life. Everyone else would leave someday and it was easier to accept that at the beginning of any connection she made. 

“I’m sorry, Dimitri. I can only imagine how disappointed you must be.”

He shook his head, smiling lightly with a dark blush coloring his cheeks. He peeked up through his long lashes as he observed a scuff on the toe of his right foot, unable to make proper eye contact. “If anything, I’m relieved.” He leaned back on the bench, tilting his head back and looking up. His son rested on his lap, napping peacefully.

“I’m not sure I’m relieved, I don’t know the first thing about being a mother.” Dimitri breathed through his nose deeply and swiveled his head to look at Byleth, his other hand gently running through Eisner’s hair.

“You know, I never really had a real mother—I mean, my step mother was there but it was always at the forefront of my mind that my real mother was dead.” He took another deep breath, scanning the sky for something. “Father, as much as people respect him, was not as good a father as I wanted. He was barely there, always chasing after my step mother like a lost puppy.” His breath was uneven and she could vaguely hear the slight splintering of the bench under his tight grip. “I wanted him to be there for me, I wanted him to tell me how to grow up to a better man than he was but he wasn’t there. No one was there after that day four years ago.” 

Byleth thought back to the portraits she’d seen of the late king—tall and handsome. He looked remarkably like his son. She’d never seen a picture of Dimitri’s mother before and when she worked up the courage to ask, Dimitri gave a bitter chuckle and pulled himself upright once more, informing her that his father decreed that all imagery of her had to be destroyed. It was too painful for him. Some said that he was never the same man after.

“What was her name?” Byleth asked, she didn’t even know her own mother’s name. 

“Katya.” His mouth formed the name strangely, as if unused to voicing it aloud. “I will be a better man than him—stronger, more able to support my son. More willing to do whatever it takes to make the world a better place not just for myself and my kingdom but for him as well. He will need to know what it feels like to live with this poisonous regret.” 

Byleth smiled at him, and took his hand in her own. “This may feel strange but in less than six years we will have a son and there’s something so exciting about that.” Dimitri smiled back at her and pulled her against his shoulder in a comforting hug.

“I don’t know what world Eisner came from, but I hope that’s the world that you and I will see together. I—I don’t know what I feel for you but it’s always in the back of my mind. And… and well I don’t know if you feel the same, but at least this boy here is proof that we could work.” Dimitri murmured against her hair. Byleth smiled and laughed, burying her face further into the crook of his neck. “Sylvain will never let me live down falling for an older woman.” She laughed in response at his grumbling.

The little boy stirred briefly—yawning before bringing his eyes up to his parents, albeit six years too early. He smiled toothily and Dimitri felt tears spring into the corner of his eyes. He brushed his finger butterfly soft against Eisner’s cheek, feeling his heart lift as the little boy leaned into it.

“Hello, son. What sort of man did I turn out to be?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big big big big thank you to all of my readers-- this story is currently the most read story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3
> 
> Let me know what you think! Comments and thoughts are this authors' fuel to keep writing!!
> 
> ;) bbnoodles.tumblr.com


	13. Warp Gone Wrong (Bittersweet) [6/6]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 6/6! THAT LAST TRUE INSTALLMENT OF THIS PARTICULAR SHORT WITHIN THE LARGER EISNER UNIVERSE! Backed by a couple of DMs I got on Tumblr, going to be expanding here and there with little extra bonus chappies but for now, it's onto the next adventure! Be sure to follow me to request what the next installment should be! Tumblr URL: bbnoodles.tumblr.com or just leave it in the comments below!
> 
> Lysithea skimps on walking Eisner back to Byleth and her warp to send him back to his quarters goes wrong-- sending him seven years into the past instead. Dimitri, Jeralt, and co find the child and hilarity ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request by an awesome reader and I just ran with it!
> 
> I love the idea of Lysithea being lazy and trying to warp a kid who was walking too slow. I similarly wanted to take some time to explore what happens when Eisner goes back in time.
> 
> This one is all about the Dimitri and Jeralt angle of this whole ordeal and I was pretty liberal about giving Jeralt a backstory so I hope it's to your guys' enjoyment!

“Are you sure this is safe?” Jeralt asked the little white-haired girl, she pursed her lips at him and sighed—

“Listen, if my theory is correct and he’s from a different time period, then warping him will send him back on his original route, if not then he’ll just reappear where he is now. Lysithea wiped away and redrew one of the lines in the incantation circle, clapping her hands together when she verified that it was correct.

“What will happen to us?” Jeralt asked her, a small wobble in his voice.

“Likely, time will correct itself and it’ll just remove any traces that he was here.”

“It’ll be ok, father.” Byleth told him, holding up the little boy on the crook of her arm. “I think it’s better that way—” she crinkled her nose, “it’s so strange meeting my child when his father and I are not even an item, yet, I suppose.”

“This feels so weird… this is Dimitri’s son and Professor’s son from the future? Man, I wish this kid could talk, imagine the cool stuff he could be tellin’ us.”

Lysithea and Hanneman shooed the students away from the center ring and coaxed Eisner into standing in the center, taking a quick look at each other before starting the warp spell.

Fluttering, glassy shards of space swirled, forming a silvery flurry of light. Wisps clung to Eisner’s clothes and tugged him up—the little boy didn’t seem worried, he smiled brightly and waved at the onlookers. His little hand, no longer see through as it’d been before, reached out for Dimitri and Byleth, who stood at the front of the crowd.

“Bye bye!” He yelled over the sound of the wind; his blond hair came to whip around his face as the corners of his mouth peeled into an even wider grin. 

Slowly, the warp closed around him, drawing him into the fabric of time, but as the scene of students before him narrowed into an even smaller pinhole, he saw over the faces in the crowd, his grandfather with weepy eyes, small tears trickling over the sides of his crows’ feet. The man smiled sadly at him and patted his breast pocket. Eisner repeated the motion, and called out to him.

“Love you, Grandpa!” The spell closed around him and he disappeared only a moment after Jeralt collapsed to his knees with a strangled rasp in his throat.

“Father!” Byleth cried, running over to him, “are you hurt?” She placed a hand on his shoulder, worriedly looking for a sign of his ailment. 

“Kid, why am I on the ground? Why are we all standing here?” Jeralt stood, patting off the training ring sand from his trousers. He looked over at the twenty some students in the hall with him, each with a varying level of confusion in their eyes. 

Byleth froze, what _were_ they all doing here? The last thing she remembered was getting some flowers from the green house with—who was with her? In her mind’s eye she could feel the softness of a hand in her own and the blooming warmth in her chest. But, she couldn’t for the life of her remember who it was. 

Dimitri walked over to her, his fingers massaging his temples as if he were having a headache. “Professor, I feel so disoriented, what happened? It feels like there’s gaps in my memory…” Byleth desperately tried to grasp at the dissipating strands in her mind but as she chased one thread down, thinking that she’d understood what had happened, she turned to face her friends and found that she couldn’t remember even what she was trying so hard to recall.

_ You will see. You should be grateful for this gift, for few are so lucky. _ Sothis called in her mind but when she questioned the elder Goddess, she found that she’d gone silent, refusing to speak more. 

Byleth sat in her sunroom, sipping at a glass of moon tea. Dimitri and her had been sequestered in meetings nearly all day and she was waiting for Lysithea to return with Eisner so she could unwind and relax after a hard day.

Dimitri had gone to steal away some time to train with Felix for a bit before Eisner returned, trying to maximize his obligations to the sword as well as his son. But even he was back now, sitting in his study behind her sunroom, working through some missives. 

Eventually, she settled into a book about Fodlan fish species, thumbing through the pages looking for the chapter about loaches. 

A knock came from the door and Lysithea poked her head in the door, scanning the room. 

Byleth broke into a wide grin and set the book and teacup aside, rushing to the door. She flung it open only to find that Lysithea was alone. 

“Oh… where is he?” She said, disappointed. She’d been looking forward to seeing him before they all tucked into dinner. Lysithea probably already left him with a maid to be put down to sleep for a while. 

“What do you mean where is he?” Lysithea asked, and Byleth’s stomach dropped to her feet. What had happened? Was he missing?” 

Her mind raced and her imagination wandered to the depths of despair as the blood drained from her face. Her heart could only take so much as the next thing she heard was Dimitri crying out and the splintering of wood. She whipped around and bolted for his study, opening the door quickly to see that her husband’s desk had been demolished and in the middle of the wreckage lay her little boy, waving at her. Everything had been knocked off of the desk—including a flask that’d sat on the edge of the table for as long as she could remember despite the fact that Dimitri did not usually drink. The contents of her son’s knapsack were entirely strewn about but at least the boy seemed unharmed.

Immediately, she scooped him up and buried her face into his hair. A weight was lifted from her shoulders. Dimitri stood in the corner, extremely confused but eventually coming up to her to pat the boy’s head.

A soft tapping pulled her away from him, Eisner was patting her cheek, pulling out a scrap of paper from his breast pocket.

_See you at dinner. Eisner walks too slow for my taste. _

“Lysithea! What in the world happened!” A peek out the open door again showed that the white-haired girl had already left. Byleth meant to stalk out of the room to demand answers but a headache suddenly came upon her, sending her to the ground with Eisner still pressed up against her. Dimitri was immediately at her side until he too keeled over, gripping his temples. 

Memories rushed to the surface of her mind. One that she had never recalled before. Visions of people teasing Dimitri in the dining hall as the then young lord blushed and gesticulated wildly, proclaiming that he was nothing like Sylvain. 

More and more came to mind until—

Unbidden, the vision of a little boy walking alongside her on the pier, her hand in his came to mind. She racked her mind, trying to remember when Eisner had even been to Garreg Mach but as her memory continued, the scene panned up to the smiling face of her father. 

It wasn’t possible, Jeralt died much too soon to ever meet his grandson. Dimitri look at her with wide eyes, remembering the days they forgot about where the little boy before them spent a week at their institution before Lysithea decided it’d be best to try to warp him home.

“Grandpa!” Eisner called out, bringing tears to Byleth’s eyes. He patted the paper in her hands a few times, until she turned it over. 

_I love you. I hope wherever you are, that you are happy. I never told you this before, but your mother’s name was Joy. I may have lost her but with you, I was joyful every last day of my life. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big big big big thank you to all of my readers-- this story is currently the most read story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag. THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3
> 
> Let me know what you think! Comments and feedback are this authors' fuel to keep writing!! Let me know how you're feeling. :)
> 
> ;) https://twitter.com/BbNoodles1


	14. Hard Knock Life (Sad-ish)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'd recommend not starting with particular chapter-- instead, read "Warp Gone Wrong (Chapters 10-15) first as they're quite a bit lighter and ease into the subject matter in the other chapters more fluidly! :) Enjoy!
> 
> As of 9/15/19 this is the most read Dimileth story on AO3, thank you so so much for the support, everyone! Please comment/leave your thoughts and leaves suggestions for what you'd like to see!

The first time Dimitri met his son, they were both crying.

She might’ve been crying too but she did not have the strength to bring a hand to her face to check. 

She could scarcely see through the sweat soaked hair plastered to her forehead and as if she were underwater, she could hear the healers bustling about her, trying to stop the bleeding but all that particularly mattered was the unarmored man and their child standing at the foot of the bed, kept away from her side by the flurry of activity in the room. The precious little bundle was shorter than his forearm and Byleth found herself wondering how she had ever gotten so large if this was all that was inside of her for the last nine months. 

She hadn't even gotten the chance to hold him. Once he had left her, the medics and midwives had practically pushed the baby into Dimitri's hands so that they could start to work on her.

Dimitri looked so much smaller out of his armor—even so, he towered over a head taller than her, even more so when he had his greaves on. He was impossibly wide too and built out in every angle. But the man that stood at the foot of the bed was not Dimitri the Savior King, but rather a worried man who’d slept a scant few minutes the last two days. He stood frozen and weepy. 

Their precious little bundle was clasped to his chest and even through the muffled din of the room she could hear the sound of his screaming cries, she wanted to see the baby—wanted to see Dimitri’s sky blue eyes staring back at her in miniature form, wanted the center of their world to stop crying to that Dimitri would be even a little less worried.

_I’m not dying… am I? My mother…she… I..._ She wondered to herself. Everyone looked so concerned but she was fine—albeit a little sleepy but that was all. 

_I’ll just rest my eyes, and when I wake, all will be perfect._

Byleth’s heavy eyelids started to shut but before they closed off the waking world, she saw Dimitri push aside an attendant and rush to her bedside, eyes wild and mouth opened in a cry that fell on her deaf ears.


	15. Never Enough [1/3] (Sad, Potential Triggers, Read at your own discretion)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth has lived six years in the sun and has decided that that is enough.
> 
> WARNING: This is a chapter depicting a mother choosing her child over herself. If this may trigger you in any way, I recommend that you skip over the chapter as I have a cute feel good one cued to post after this one goes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Maternal Death, Things associated with labor not going well, read at your own discretion.
> 
> I didn't proof read this one at all-- I just typed it out as it came to my mind because it's too sad to reread. :'( For all the sad!Eisner readers, this one's for you.

Byleth's lids felt impossibly heavy as she lay in a sweat soaked help in the royal chambers. 

The muffled din of bustling activity accompanied by the blurry figures of healers standing around her bed, desperately channeling warm light magic into her broken body. 

The labor felt like years but the moments since her baby left her felt even longer. She had caught a brief glimpse as they took him from her, he had been quiet and still. They had eventually forced it into her husband's waiting hands of Dimitri, who stood shell shocked at the foot of the bed. 

The regal features of his faces were blurred by the sweat, blood, and tears, but she could feel his blue gaze stuck to her legs-- pooling blood at the foot of the bed. 

_ Too much blood _

_ Too long without air... might never wake _

If she was going to die anyway, why would she take her baby with her? 

She didn't even have a life left to trade. 

_ Oh Goddess. Oh Goddess. Please. _

Unbidden, tears came to her eyes-- her life up until she came to Garreg Mach for the first time had been hard. A half life spent on the road between two towns she’d never see. She had never known her mother and no matter the bedmate that Jeralt met that tried to be her mother, she had never felt close to anyone in her entire life. 

Then she went to the monastery-- felt the warm hands of human contact for the first time. Ate a warm meal at a real table with real cutlery with a real family. Woke up feeling excited for what the day would bring. Protected people not because they were paying her but because they cared about her and she cared for them. Felt like someone would miss her when she was gone. Loved so fiercely that she thought that she might break at so many critical junctions. 

Yet, they brought her scarred, tired body to this place. This warm room that she shared with the warm man that had spent hardly a moment away from her side-- with friends that would do anything for her. 

She had never done a truly good thing in her life before meeting Dimitri, then the selfishness melted away to make her put others before herself, the coldness turned into the tender smile she'd never seen herself have-- never even knew she could, the loneliness turning to a feeling so bright that she felt her chest would burst if she let herself feel for too long. 

The light magic grew even brighter-- she was not in any pain. Only a pressuring coldness that creeped up her toes, leaving them numb and limp. 

_ Please. I've just started my life. It can't be over already. _

Then in the narrow band of light still filtering into her tired eyes, she saw the precious little bundle struggling for its life-- a life in danger because of how long she had taken to bring him into the world. The tears grew even thicker and more heart broken. She was being selfish-- she had had seven years to enjoy the sun. She, who had the blood of hundreds on her hands. Of a selfish killer who had hurt so many people and let so many people down. 

_ Sothis, take me but do not take him _

With the last of her strength, Byleth tugged on the familiar magic of the divine pulse in her soul and at once, the coldness turned to searing pain. All the strength in her body only amount to turning back the clock a mere day. 

She shot up in bed, scaring the midwife dabbing at the sweat on her brow. "Doctor! Doctor, please!" At once, Dimitri, who had been sitting at her side moved to hold her down gently, hushing her and whispering sweet nothings. By the time Eisner was born, he'd been awake almost three days. But even at this halfway mark there were strong dark circles under his eyes and his skin was paler than normal. He knew as well as the doctor did that this was not normal and that something was wrong.

Byleth jerked out of his grasp and rolled off the bed in the process. Immediately the healers came to her side, helping her up but she wouldn't be moved from her heap on the stone floor. The head healer stooped over and grasped her shoulders gently but she instead clawed her hands into the coller of his robes. 

She was bawling and nearly screaming as her voice crackled under the pressure of her agony. "Doctor you must cut him from me or he will not survive. Please." 

The room fell silent and the first sound to permeate the deafening quiet was the sound of a wooden bed post ripped from the headboard and thrown on the ground so hard that it splintered into the small pieces. 

When Byleth was a child she'd never understood why her mother sacrificed herself. There would always be more children but a mother? A mother was irreplaceable. But now she understood and she prostrated herself on the cold floor and begged the doctor to choose the baby over herself. 

The doctor looked over at his King. "Your majesty?" His eyes were wide. 

“Are you insane! I forbid it! I will never let them butcher you like an animal—I won’t—” Dimitri stopped as he caught his wife’s figure in his vision. She was on her knees, barely able to get over the bump of her belly but she her forehead was just shy of pressing into the floor.

“Dimitri I never ask you for anything, but let me do this. Let me do something unselfish for someone who deserves to feel the sun the way that I have since I met you.” He came to wrap his arm around her, feeling the tears falling as they both began to cry. With his face buried into her damp hair, against the will of every bone in his body, he nodded.

“Six years will never be enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :'( I'm sad, need a hug. Please send me some comment hugs, I could really use them after writing this :'(


	16. Never Enough [au 2/3] (Sad!!!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth dies and those who are left behind learn to live once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I know I'm evil. This has been brewing a long time and I keep scrapping everything to rewrite this particular series of shorts but I figure I should get it out there and you guys can let me know what you think. This is a continuation of chapter 5.
> 
> I've also been moving so I haven't had the time to write.
> 
> There are some pretty dark themes here as Dimitri is in a bad place and won't be a good role model.
> 
> Get your tissues out and send this author some hugs, this was a toughie 😭😭😭

Byleth held Eisner for but a moment before her grip was too loose and a healer had to scramble to catch the baby before it hit the bed. She barely stirred when they placed her son in her arms— her eyes were unfocused and she moved her mouth in simulations of speech but no words came forth. Dimitri overheard doctors say from outside the room that she likely did not even realize she got to hold the baby but he knew otherwise. The minute way her fingers tightened around the precious boy’s body. The slight rattling sound of her breath as her last one escaped her was a sound he’d never forget.

“—mitri.”

Maybe he had imagined it, but in the moment multiple things happened at once. Her arms fell slack and he saw her eyes roll back as the tension in her neck sent her head back onto the pillows with a dull thump.

It was also the moment that he felt the delicate thread of his control snap. He grabbed the healer carrying the boy by the back of her dress and demanded that she and everyone else in the room leave immediately. When she protested, he practically shoved her out. The others went without protest, heads bowed in shame at the death of their queen. Some handmaidens in the room wept but none felt so lost as the man who had just lost his wife.

The moment the room cleared and he rushed to her side, he stripped off her night shirt, desperately looking for a telltale rise and fall of her chest but saw none. He roughly shook her and her head only lolled lifelessly from side to side. He set her down and screamed, feeling the crunch of the dresser beneath his hand as he threw it hard against the wall. The bed was impossibly soaked with her blood and he desperately wiped away at it with the sheets. Crying out even louder and weeping even more intensely when it only smeared and refused to come off. Dimitri felt the squish of her blood on his own hands and screamed, dragging his fingers down his face.

Byleth was long cold before Dimitri let the doctors take her from him. The two days he spent locked in the royal quarters with the body were a mystery. The sounds of his cries would haunt the people outside the room for years.

When they were allowed back in, the room was in a state of absolute carnage. Pieces of furniture were broken and all of the internal doors were hanging off of their hinges. The body of the queen was in the only part of the room that was undisturbed, lying serenly and redressed with her hands folded neatly atop one another. Felix had arrived as quickly as he could, as had Sylvain. The sight of Byleth’s dead body sent both of their minds to a screeching halt. While their professor had never been particularly expressive, it was eerie. The coroner nervously tapped his foot on the stone flooring as he waited for DImitri to let him put the body on a cart. The King himself looked a mess— he’d already been three days without sleep and the additional two only made him look worse. His hair was stringly and almost looked red covered in his wife’s blood. His face and arms were similarly covered.

When he emerged from the royal quarters and called out— scaring— a passing maid to rally the appropriate people, he looked the part of the monster he’d been during his exile.

Instead of speaking to the crowd outside his room, Dimitri gingerly picked the corpse up in his arms and cradled its head against the crook of his neck in a way reminiscent of the way he used to hold his wife. He stroked its hair and nuzzled his cheek against it.

Mercedes gasped aloud and moved to grab one of Dimitri’s hands but he roughly moved to avoid it. His bleeding hands soaked into the white shift that he’d changed the corpse into. Splinters and gashes covered them, the King did not even flinch as they dug further into him.

“Your majesty... perhaps you should let us attend to Queen Byleth while you go see the boy. He’s been inconsolable.” The head healer choked out quietly, struggling to make eye contact with Dimitri. The newborn had not slept at all since his birth and while one side of the castle was privy to the sound of the King’s warpath, they were unable to use the nursury as it was moved to the royal quarters. So, instead, they’d set up shop for the boy in DImitri’s childhood room.

The blond King lazily turned to face the frightened healers. “This isn’t the queen,” he shook it, as if to illustrate the way it flopped around lifelessly. Felix and Sylvain cringed, watching the stiff way the body moved. From the slightly open slits of its eyes, there was a glimpse of milky white. “It’s a sack of meat that she used to live in. If you ever say her name again, I will tear your head from your shoulders and feed it to you.”

Then, as if he had not threatened the man, he gestured with his head down the hall. “Aren’t you coming? We should get funeral rites underway.”

The healers were terrified, scared into silence until finally, Mercedes came forward and bravely put a hand on her friend’s shoulders. “Dimitri, what about the baby?”

Dimitri turned to face her, readjusting slightly before answering coldly: “What about it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you think? Talk to me in the comments! Comments are fuel! (And hugs pls)
> 
> I'm also working on a new story-- a novelization of the in game book "Loog and the Maiden of Wind", keep an eye out! I hope y'all will like it!


	17. Never Enough [au 3/3] (Sad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth dies and those who are left behind learn to live once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final part of this particular mini series (standalone). I could've done more but honestly I wanted to leave this one sort of open ended, at least for now (honestly, I also just did not want to write sad stuff for this particular universe anymore)! Next chapter is going to be back to our "happy" universe where Byleth doesn't die!
> 
> Make sure to check out my novelization of Loog and the Maiden of Wind! It's been stuck in my head and I'm super excited to share it with you all! <3

Blue Lions from all corners of Fodlan flocked to Fhirdiad in the ensuing months. 

Mercedes left her post at Garreg Mach to permanently to teach at the Royal School of Magic. Annette and Lysithea soon joined her—the three women taking up residence in the castle to maximize the time they could spend with the boy before and after classes. They named him _Eisner_\-- a name the blond healer had heard Byleth murmuring under her breath as the waves of labor repeatedly struck her and took the breath from her lungs. 

Slowly, one by one, those who had the luxury of leaving their posts or otherwise visiting often did so, each bringing a piece of their lost teacher with them in hopes of supplying the boy with any notion of a real family. Some took of residence in the employment of the crown, others simply moved their base of operations to be closer. 

Even Felix, ever hopeless with children and prickly as a sour alley cat budgeted a week of every month to make the trip over to the capital—claiming that it was easier to go over documents in person but any of the maids in the castle could have told countless stories of him pouring over official documents with one hand gently rocking the little boy’s cradle. When Sylvain teased him, he merely glared and claimed that the repetitive movement was close enough to that of swinging a sword and helped keep him focused.

Everyone else knew better, even if no one would press him on it.

Dimitri was at first inconsolable, and then then incorrigible. Though true to his word, he never reverted to the darkness that he swore off to his late wife, he was never the same person after losing her. He never entered the royal quarters again and barred the door with planks of wood mounted against the door frame so that no one else could either. He had a chamberlain set up a spartan bedroom on the clear other end of the castle and then decreed that all imagery of the dead queen had to be confiscated and moved to a room adjoining his own—for his eyes only. 

He no longer employed the use of a study, instead taking all of his meetings in the war room and working alone exclusively in the crypts by candlelight. In the weeks following the royal funeral, he commissioned a large marble statue to place atop of her tomb. It was a vision of heroism; he’d described her to the sculptor in her most idealized form—hair streaming with sword raised towards some unseen foe with a small teacup that he did not care to explain sitting at her feet. 

Dimitri let his hair grow long and pulled away from his face with a braided leather cord and took good care of himself, eating his meals and getting his work done at reasonable hours. To his friends, he was personable, friendly even. If they did not know about the baby sleeping in the tallest, further possible tower from the throne room, they may have been able to believe that the King was fine.

But he was not fine. If anyone brought up his wife or his son, he would stand and leave the room immediately. Many had walked in on him speaking to her statue, as if it were responding to him. He had never even seen the child after the initial birth. In fact, he wholly rejected the notion that the child should ever leave his tower at all. 

If he had ever met the baby, he would have known that Eisner was a joyful child. He had sparkling mint wide eyes that made Ingrid cry the first time she saw them and tousled blond hair a shade lighter than his father’s. He did not cry but spent much time laughing as almost everything under the sun could amuse him. His blushing cheeks and toothless grin charmed many a maid, friend, medic, and more into playing with him. If he ever felt the gaping absence of a father or mother, no one would be able to tell—until he started to speak—far later than most children did.

Despite Dimitri preventing the baby from leaving the tower, Annette was determined to show the baby the outside world. Dimitri was out on business to the lower town—the first time he’d left the capital since the incident. She bundled Eisner up in his cutest clothes and employed some friends to host a small picnic outside with him—usually, Faerghusian celebrated a baby’s first six months as a major milestone. In such a cold region, many were not lucky to make it so far and as of such, it was a celebration for many families. Being in the precarious situation he was, Eisner was not allowed such a privilege and Annette wanted to commemorate his milestone, even if it were late.

Eisner had squeaked and laughed the moment she’d walked him into the garden—Mercedes and some of their other friends were sitting atop a small picnic blanket with food pilfered from the kitchens. The boy stared up at the sky—seeing clouds and sunshine for the first time in his short life in wonder. 

He stayed gazing up for the majority of the time they other chatted amicably and ate. Eventually, Annette offered him a sip of water and he swiveled his head and smiled widely at her.

“Mama!”

She froze, and one by one a choked gasp stuck firm in her windpipe as hot tears came to her eyes. She felt a couple of tears start to trickle out and wept so hard immediately that she had to excuse herself and stand behind the topiary to cry.  
When Eisner, confused, called Sylvain the same thing, the older man recoiled hard and patted the baby on the head, congratulating him for speaking his first word. Ashe, hopping on damage control immediately pulled out a copy of _Loog and the Maiden of Wind_ and offered to read to the boy. Anything. Literally anything to get him to never say that word again.

No one even knew how the boy had learned that word as everyone had been careful to entirely remove that word and any associated with it from their vocabularies.

The friends let the little baby enjoy his time out in the sun and quickly brought him back inside before the horns sounded signaling the King’s return. 

All was well and they were glad that they boy had some time to enjoy himself but a week later, Lysithea found that he was coughing. By that evening, the fever set in. Three days later when the fever refused to break, the head doctor handed down the worst possible news the Blue Lions.

“I’m sorry, but the little boy won’t make it to morning if the fever does not break.” 

Yet, despite them trying every herbal remedy and people noble and commoner alike taking the time to sit with the boy and try to cool him, the fever blazed on and as the minutes ticked past midnight, they resigned themselves to the goddess’ cruel will. _If Eisner died, Byleth would have died for nothing. _

During one of his lucid moments, the little boy—seemingly lacking words for much of his life thus far, was seemingly now full of them to share—asked to see his father. His deadbeat, useless father that he had not even met let alone ever spoken to. The surprise of where the boy had even learned to speak was lost of the friends but gravity of the situation overwhelmed the group.

Annette cried. Felix went outside and beat a training dummy to smithereens. Marianne prayed so much that her knees were bruised for days afterwards. Dorothea retired to her room to nurse a drink.

But Sylvain was just plain angry. 

Dimitri looked up as his bedroom door slammed open. He was dressed in his nightclothes and readying himself for bed when his childhood friends barged into his room in a fit.

“Hello Sylvain, what brings you here this evening?” He asked, turning so that his good eye could look at the uninvited guest. 

“Is this really a time for pleasantries. Are you kidding me?” Sylvain marched up to the King and levied a glare at him that would have made any lesser man’s knees tremble. “Are you fucking kidding me?” 

Dimitri shrugged and put some distance between the two of them. “Kidding you about what? You are the one barging in, do you know what the hour is? It’s late. I’d like to go to sleep.” He reached out to snuff out a small candle at his bedside but Sylvain grabbed his arm and tugged at it to get the man to look at him.

“Eisner is dying. And you’re not even going to see him.” 

Dimitri was quiet for a moment, but then coolly responded. “Eisner? I do not know anyone by that name. Maybe you’re mistaken.” 

Sylvain growled and dragged a hand through his mussed hair. “Eisner? Eisner is your son. The one that Byleth died to give you but you’re sitting here like a fucking miserable failure of a father while your son…” Sylvain gave pause for a moment before continuing— “…that’s right! Your _flesh and blood_ is dying.”

“Haven’t I been very clear here? Do not speak her name, I do not want to hear it.” Dimitri was cordial and polite but the tight set of his jaw belied a quivering fury raging just under the surface of his deadly calm.

“What do you think you are doing here? When you were young, do you remember when you, Felix, and I snuck into the royal archives so that you could—for the first time—look at a picture of your mother? You know how hard it was for you, why are you being just as bad if not worse to your _son_”?” Dimitri looked as if he were going to deign Sylvain with a response but only managed a quiet comment.

“Sylvain you do not understand what it feels like to lose her.” 

“Yeah, maybe not in the same way but we all lost her—we’ve all lost people. Stop acting pathetic, you are not the victim here. That sweet little boy is.” 

Dimitri did not respond and it only served to make Sylvain even more angry. 

“If you are going to sit here and do nothing, I’m going to return to Eisner because I have enough respect for Byleth and love for that little boy to not. Let. Him. Die. Alone. Without knowing that someone will miss him when he’s gone, to know that despite everything lost to bring him into this world, the world is a better place for having him in it.”

With that, the young nobleman swept out of the room, slamming the door so hard that Dimitri worried that it might fall off of its hinges. 

“Byleth, what do I do?” He whispered to himself. He put his head in his hands and felt tears come to his eyes for the first time in years.

When Sylvain made the trek back up to Eisner’s tower he was relieved that the boy’s condition had not changed—it hadn’t gotten worse but unfortunately it had not improved either. The prognosis was growing ever grimmer and the friends had no choice but to hunker down and bear the consequences together. 

He made to sit against the nursery wall when the door he’d just closed burst open once more and the last person on earth that he expected flew in. 

Eisner lifted his head just enough to gave through the gap in the crib bars and, with the chilling articulation impossible for a two-year-old child, croaked out:

“Mama say you come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you think? Talk to me in the comments! Comments are fuel! (And hugs pls)
> 
> The idea here (and it's always been this) is that Eisner can hear his mother the same way that his mother can hear Sothis. So, he doesn't cry because she's always there to comfort him and what not, it's also where he's been learning to speak. This chapter was much easier to write than the previous one but I wanted to leave it somewhat ambiguous in terms of what happened to the father son relationship afterwards. I'd love for it to mend but I can also see it not doing that. 
> 
> Either way, that's it for this particular miniseries! 
> 
> More fluff is in the pipeline! I think at this point, I will be aging Eisner up and potentially (backed by popular demand!!!) introducing a female child. :) We're about to become the second most hit Dimileth story on this site so thank you so so much for all of your continued support and a big congrats to "Godspeed" for their new spot in the rankings! The story is awesome!
> 
> \---
> 
> Requests here: bbnoodles.tumblr.com  
Talk to me here: https://twitter.com/BbNoodles1


	18. Saint Cethlenn's Celebration of Children [1/2] (happy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saint Cethlenn's Day is upon Fhirdiad and once restless prince wants his presents...now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eisner's talking and older now! I think that last pretty sad mini-AU installment was enough to wrap up about all the things we could've done with a baby boy but might definitely revisit at some point. I hope you enjoy some good ol' fashioned family fluff :) We're not the number 1 most hit story in the Dimitri/Byleth tag anymore but I'm so grateful for anyone and everyone that reads and leaves comments! <3 You guys and gals are amazing!
> 
> Saint Cethlenn's Day in my head is basically like Children's Day! It's in the middle of July though so it's not quite like Christmas but I imagine some things might be similar!

Dimitri cracked open a single eye to look at his wife who similarly looked back at him with a small smile on her face. The two lay side by side, staring up at the blue bed canopy and straining their ears for the sound of small feet pitter pattering into their room.

“Do you think he’s going to jump in like he’s been saying for the last few days?” She whispered quietly, her hand patting around under the covers until they found his and intertwined their fingers. Dimitri nodded slightly.

“Of course, Saint Cethlenn’s day is all he’s been able to chatter about for weeks.” 

“Is his gift still under the bed?” The two royals had invested in Eisner’s first sword for Saint Cethlenn’s—the Patron of Children’s—Day celebrations. Eisner had been too young to remember his first one but toys he’d been given still decorated his small bedroom. Now that the little boy was toddling around the castle, it only made sense that he received his first weapon—it was a small hand sword barely the length of Dimitri’s forearm with a small blue crystal at the pommel and a filigree guard flaring into a braided handle covered in leather wrappings. 

“No, I caught him nosing around under the bed yesterday so I moved it to behind the headboard.”

In Faerghus, children often learned to swing swords before they even learned to read—Byleth only learned to read in her teens with no need for books or fine arts on the ruthless roads. Dimitri was barely two years old before his own father put a sword in his hand and showed him a miniature training dummy to toss around.

Eisner was a bright boy, a nigh impossible to upset little boy that wreaked havoc upon the castle with his unusual strength. Any minute, the parents expected the boy to bound into the room with spokes from his crib in hand, ready to demand his surprise for Children’s Day.

The Holy Kingdom started decorating at the beginning of the month—it was summer so all the best flowers were brought into the capital and hung in garlands festooning every doorway and open wall. Bewildered by the hustle and bustle, Eisner had asked every question under the sun to a visiting Flayn who was more than happy to humor his every whim. That is, until she’d told him that most children received children’s day gifts from the spirit of Saint Cethlenn herself. Sylvain, who was also visiting at the time had told the little boy that if he was misbehaved, not only would he receive no gifts, he’d also get turned into a Demonic Beast.

After Eisner finished crying at the thought of becoming a Demonic Beast, he became entranced with the idea of what his Children’s Day gift would be. 

“I can’t believe you’re giving a two-year-old boy a sword.” Byleth told Dimitri, gently punching his arm “If he hurts himself, I’ll not forgive you.” 

Suddenly, they heard the slight squeak of the bedroom door opening and the two immediately closed their eyes and feigned sleep. Dimitri smiled with his eyes closed, imagining in his minds eye what it would be like to watch his little boy nose around their room to try to get his gift early—most children had to wait until the bonfire in the evening to receive their gifts. 

Eisner tip toed across the cold marble floor in his sleeping clothes, occasionally looking over at his sleeping parents to make sure that they were still asleep. His father rumbled softly and his mother was buried under a mound of blankets, seemingly none the wiser. 

He had a good idea of where his gift would be—yesterday while his father was reading his favorite book—"Loog and the Maiden of Wind” to him before dinner, he’d dropped a bookmark and squirreled under the bed to retrieve it but was stopped by his father instead crawling under the bed himself with his massive frame. There was only one explanation for why his father wouldn’t let him look under the bed, it was the perfect hiding place! 

Eisner came to a slight stop at the foot on the bed and placed his cheek to the floor, looking under the large bed and squinting to try to make out a parcel or box under the narrow space.

Unfortunately, there was nothing there, just some dust collecting around the posters of the bed. Eisner blew a strand of blond hair out of his face and “hmphed.” 

He was all out of ideas. 

Dejected, he scrambled onto his father’s half of the bed, scampering a bit to pull his legs over the tall side. He quietly crawled into his favorite spot, a nice gap his parents always left open for him right between them. He settled in and tucked the blanket over himself. 

Suddenly, he felt two large arms encircle him and he gave a high-pitched squeak!

“Well well what do we have here? Beloved, I seem to have caught an intruder!” His impossibly large father set him down on his expansive chest and pressed a light kiss to the boy’s brow. His mother’s rough hands also came down to pat his hair.

“Indeed! Hello little invader!” Her hand crept to his sides and tickled him affectionately, making the little boy squeak once more. 

“Mama! Mama! I don’t know what inva-ther is!” He squealed and laughed, trying to move away from her hands but his father kept him firmly in place. 

His green haired mother smirked at him— “Well, may I ask what you were looking under the bed for?” 

The boy calmed himself and swiveled to meet her gave, answering with a straight face— “I have no idea what… what you’re talking about. Yes! No idea!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'dya think about this return to fluff? This one's gonna be short, a 2 parter. :) 
> 
> Comments are fuel for this author! Be sure to check out my Loog and the Maiden of Wind story! I'm super super super super super excited about it!   
To my "Daughter of Fodlan" story, I'm so sorry! I've been at work conferences the last two weeks, I'll get an update on that soon!!! 
> 
> Requests here: bbnoodles.tumblr.com  
Talk to me here: https://twitter.com/BbNoodles1


	19. Momma Jeralt on the Open Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momma Jeralt on the open road with Baby Byleth, coming to terms that he's maybe not going to be her #1 forever... or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh... hello! It's certainly been a long time! Hello!
> 
> I'm still blown away by all the amazing feedback on this story, but now that we're in quarantine I will probably try to update more since I have free time. Work has been crazy but leave your requests in the comments! I'm itching to get some new content out! Actually, an author by the name of jaexii who posted a fic related to this one is actually what made me feel up to come back! They linked me as a related work so be sure to check them out!
> 
> Honestly, I took a long break because of some blatant creditless plagiarism and content theft going on. A couple of them had straight up lifted exact excerpts from this fiction to make comics/stories and while it was great, when I asked them to at least link to this fic, they refused. One told me that they'd never heard of this fic before but when I looked through the kudos, their name was in there. :'( I confronted some but the way they responded just really disheartened me and I really lost motivation for posting after that. But, I'm ready to give it another go and I'll just not let it bother me anymore. 
> 
> Please please let me now how you liked this chapter... I was super nervous to come back after such a long hiatus...

Byleth grew up on the open road with the wide expanse of sky at every turn. Every day a new task, every month a new home, every year a new adventure. 

Jeralt was an interesting father to say the least. Somehow, he built up a mercenary empire on the road with a baby strapped to his chest. Passerbyers called him a bad father. Those passerbyers’ face met the knuckles of his fist. 

It started near Gronder Fields. Jeralt had had little time to consider his options after leaving the monastery—he’d only really thought of the best way to get Byleth out of Rhea’s clutches and siphoned off his decades of funds from the bank over the course of about a month, then they’d go west! To Almyra if they had to! 

But fate had a way of working differently. 

He was halfway across the continent before he heard the reports:

_Jeralt the Breaker of Blades has died! Burnt to a crisp in a monastery fire that ravaged for three days and three nights. _ He thought a moment about whether using magical accelerant he bought from Abyss was a good idea, and ultimately decided it was. Not only did they think he was dead, but they were probably too busy picking up the pieces to even consider trying to validate claims of a traveling warrior with a blue haired baby—the world was a big place and here, he was just a nobody now. He had been a Knight of Seiros for a long time, he could barely remember what the world looked like before he was gifted a Crest and inducted into service to the church.

So, he slowed down. Took Baby on a walk through the marketplace and bought her everything that she remotely gurgled at. He’d teach her the words for the things that they had purchased: a whetstone for arrowheads, pale ale, a plum that looked like a turd, a horseshoe several sizes too small for his horse, cheese for Gautier, and more. The merchant at the armory stall gave him a weird look when the little girl pointed at a mace hanging on the wall but Jeralt shrugged and bought it without much of a thought. She’d grow into it—erm, eventually?

With their spoils packed onto Jeralt’s loyal steed—Daffodil Pepperdill, aptly named by Sitri, and no he wasn’t going to ever change it—the pair headed back to their small lodgings. She bounced her head side to side toothily—“Momma!” Looking straight at him. A lesser man with less confidence in his masculinity would have tried to correct her. He didn’t, he’d be the best mother she would ever have.

He had been slow on teaching her how to speak and he slowly sounded out the words for what they’d purchased. The littler version of Sitri looked back at him-- _wat-sto, al, ploom, horsieshoe, chee!!!!_ Close enough for him, he thought, as he took a bite out of a _ploom_. 

He reserved his crying over his dead wife for the dead of the night when his little girl was snoring into oblivion. Even though she seldom emoted, he could just _tell_ that she cared. When she saw his puffy eyes in the morning, she’d pat his cheek. She looked more and more like her every day—the slight dimple on her right cheek and the ethereal way she would look at him and smile. Though, Sitri had more teeth and didn’t drool when she fell asleep. He was betting on their babe being a son, but he was elated with the way it felt to hold his daughter. It wasn’t until Rhea calmly informed him that Sitri had died that he broke down and wept. Baby—to his surprise—didn’t cry with him. She just looked at him with the same unreadable face that she always did. He asked to spend a few moments along with Sitri’s body. Rhea refused. He saw Rhea- a slip of a women barely up to his shoulder carrying a suspiciously human shaped bloody sheet. His heart hardened.

Byleth was enough. Their little traveling duo was enough. He could do without the company, without the fame, without everything so long as that little girl was happy—or so he thought she was, it was hard to tell, honestly. Even when their little traveling family turned into a small party, then to a full company, Byleth was number one. Whatever his little girl wanted, she got. Whoever even remotely looked at her in a way he didn’t like would quickly find themselves in the dirt. When they lost Daffodil, Byleth was around ten years old, she did not cry, but instead went into the forest for an entire day and came back with a sword hacked to oblivion. They picked up a horse at the next town and named him Tulip Mustardgreens. Slowly, they picked up companions and friends along the way, misfits that fit in just about as well as they did-- that is to say, not at all. But they were home, they were family.

Soon, he stopped needing to put wandering eyes on their asses as his daughter started doing it herself. He looked upon her a proud father, with a twinge in his belly telling him words he’d always be worried to hear: 

_She doesn’t need you anymore. _ He’d smiled to himself and shook it off, all fathers wanted their daughters to grow up self sufficient like her. He’d patted her on the back that day and bought her everything she wanted at the market—a mandolin, a small misshapen turnip that he was _not_ going to let her cook, a feedbag for goats that she thought might make a nice pillow, and finally, a small daffodil pin that she put on Tulip’s saddlebag.

Even when he was forcibly conscripted back into Rhea’s service, he knew that they’d be ok. They’d lay low for a year or two and then high tail it to Almyra like he originally planned.

What he did not count on was the way his stomach dropped when his emotionless little girl started to take weekly tea times with that noble brat from Faerghus. Faerghusians were so, so _stuffy and boring_. Little jerk offs with their inflated sense of justice that pissed him off to no end. Little village girls dreamt of men like Brat-Dimitri swooping down from the heavens and sweeping them off of their feet but if Jeralt was going to be honest, the blondie spent most of the time around his daughter swept off of _his own_ feet, crashing ass first into the dirt where he belonged. Byleth told him often about Dimitri’s training and how he was getting better. Jeralt took the time out of his duties sometimes to make sure that the requisite amount of beat down was installed in the young prince, even when his own daughter gave him slack for playing favorites. He didn’t think Dimitri felt like a favorite judging by how sore he was the next day more often than not. When Brat-Dimitri passed his cavalier exams, he’d asked for Byleth’s advice for what to name his new horse. Jeralt stepped in confidently, leaving no room for discussion, and suggested “Pansy Garlicknots” to which his daughter’s elated clap made indelible. He could tell Brat-Dimitri was trying to refuse but eventually nodded slowly, patting his war horse’s giant sides with reticent approval. 

_Serves you right_.

One evening, when he was heading back to his room, he happened to see a group of female students in the dining hall—probably prattling about and baking as they usually did on their free day. To his surprise, Byleth sat among them, being scolded by an orange haired girl about how to properly mix batter. A blond scolded his daughter when she tried to lick the ladle. Sugar was a commodity that was hard to store so Byleth rarely got to have it on the road. Good thing for her waistline because she was _obsessed_. He smiled and watched as she animatedly tried her best to whip frosting. It was refreshing, watching her with people her own age acting her own age. 

It was when he overheard that she had explicitly requested this baking session so that she could make tea cakes for her tea time with _royal brat_ that he stepped in and promptly told his daughter that he was starving and needed a good snack. His little girl waved him over, and offered the cooling cakes to him without a second though. He beamed.

_Momma is still number one. Fuck you, Dimitri, for trying to steal my daughter. _ He didn’t leave a single cake behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave requests in the comments and I'll try to fill them! :) Please please let me now how you liked this chapter... I was super nervous to come back after such a long hiatus...
> 
> As always, check out the other stuff in this series as well as my Talk to me on Twitter ["Loog and the Maiden of the Wind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21025334) and ["Daughter of Fodlan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20161663) stories. Updates coming there in the near future!
> 
> Talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BbNoodles1)


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